Nut-Free Gluten-Free School Birthday Party. Sounds fun, huh? (It can be!)

My son just turned three. Tomorrow he gets to celebrate at his pre-school, which means I'm supposed to send in some treats. His teacher suggested something "fun and not too messy, like Oreos." Well, that wasn't going to happen. The first and second ingredients in Oreos are sugar and partially hydrogenated oils. So I would have to make something (even though I'm still exhausted from all the prepping, baking, cleaning, shopping, and organizing I did for the birthday party we had at home this weekend). Sigh.


My son's school, like so many, is a nut-free zone to protect any children with allergies. That meant I couldn't go to my usual healthy baking bag-o-tricks, such as increasing nutrition by replacing half the flour in every recipe with almond meal. So I decided to make my adaptation of this flourless chocolate cake recipe that uses chickpeas, which are high in fiber and protein. It's an elegant dessert to serve in cake form at a dinner party--as I have--but fun for the kiddies in cupcake form. Then again, what isn't fun in cupcake form?

The secret ingredient makes these cupcakes super moist and nutritious.

These cupcakes are also flourless and require only a blender and a microwave-safe bowl: perfect for when you're feeling lazy and don't want to sift ingredients or wash lots of dishes.


I also made some dark-chocolate-dipped strawberries for the school party. They're so easy a three-year-old can make them. And did (see below for proof)!

Ingredients

(yields 48 mini-cupcakes)

• 1 and 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or chopped dark chocolate)
• 2 cups chickpeas, preferably from a BPA-free can
• 4 eggs
• 1/3c prunes
• 2/3c Sucanat
• 3T greek yogurt
• 1/2t baking powder
• powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Drain and rinse the chickpeas very well. Put chickpeas and eggs in blender and puree until smooth.

Prunes add sweetness and moisture to this recipe, and are great in chocolate recipes. Add them to the blender and puree until smooth. You will see little specks of the prunes, but there shouldn't be any chunks.

Melt the chocolate in your microwave until smooth and glossy. Stir well.

Add Sucanat, yogurt, baking powder and melted chocolate to blender. Puree again until fully combined.

 

Grease cupcake pan or use paper liners and fill cups about 3/4 full with batter.

Bake for 20-22 minutes; insert a toothpick in the middle of a cupcake to check doneness. Cool on a rack.

If you'd like, dust with powdered sugar. It does look really nice...

As for the strawberries, just wash your berries (organic, please: conventional strawberries have a very high amount of pesticide residue) and dry them well. 

 Melt about an ounce of dark chocolate. 

Dip the berries, covering them in as much or as little chocolate as you'd like. 

Place them on a plate covered in wax paper and chill in the fridge until the chocolate hardens.

My son helped me make them. He had a ball and, hey, less work for tired mama!

 

Each kid will get one mini-cupcake and one chocolate-covered strawberry. Beans and berries -- not the worst birthday party snack, am I right?

What do you make for your kid's school birthday parties?