Flourless Chocolate Cupcakes

Found a great recipe to make a light cupcake with dark chocolate. The original recipe comes from the Martha Stewart site. Instead of flour and leaveners, this recipe calls for adding whipped egg whites. Not only does that make the cupcakes light and fluffy but also low in calories! I just calculated the calorie count and each cupcake would have only 116 calories. Not bad! This does not include the optional scoop of ice cream on top. But hey, at only 116 calories one could easily afford to add a small scoop of ice cream. I will definitely give the recipe a try.

Note: Each cupcake does have 4.2 grams of saturated fat. Just something to keep in mind for those of us with cholesterol levels that tend to climb up when we overdo the treats of this kind!

Ingredients

Makes 22.

• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips)
• 6 large eggs, separated, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Ice cream, for serving (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Melt butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl set over (not in) a pan of simmering water. Stir to combine, then remove bowl from heat and let cool slightly. Whisk in egg yolks.
2. With an electric mixer on medium speed, whisk egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until peaks are stiff and glossy but not dry (do not overbeat). Whisk one quarter of the beaten egg whites into chocolate mixture to lighten; gently fold mixture into remaining whites.
3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until cupcakes are just set in centers, about 25 minutes. Transfer tins to wire racks to cool completely before removing cupcakes (their centers will sink). Cupcakes are best eaten the same day they are baked; keep at room temperature until ready to serve, topped with scoops of ice cream, if desired.

Tags: flourlesscupcakes, dark chocolate, low calorie,