These Almond & Fruit Cupcakes are simple and fast to make, happen to be gluten-free, and hold very little sugar. This makes them quite versatile, and can be served primarily at breakfast, lunch, eaten even as an after-dinner light dessert, or just snacked on whenever (in moderation).

Enjoy with a topping of your favorite fruit jam.

I'll be posting this quite soon on my blog, so be sure to check it out on Michael's Test Kitchen !

Step 1: Ingredients

(makes 12 cupcakes)

¾ cup almond meal or flour

1 teaspoon almond extract

½ cup confectioners sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

2 whole eggs

2 egg whites

2 egg yolks

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoons baking powder

⅓ cup coconut oil, melted

Fruit Jam of your choice

Step 2: Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12 medium cupcake tins

Step 3: Dry

In a blender or food processor, grind the almond meal with salt.

Step 4: Wet

Add two whole eggs, and almond extract, and pulse until smooth. Add in cornstarch, melted coconut oil, and baking powder and pulse again until incorporated.

Step 5: Egg White

In a medium bowl, add two egg whites, and beat until it begins to look solid white and fluffy. Add in granulated sugar, and continue to beat until more solid with stiff peaks.

In another medium bowl, combine confectioners sugar with 2 egg yolks, and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Step 6: Yolk

In another medium bowl, combine confectioners sugar with 2 egg yolks, and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Step 7: Putting It All Together

Pour almond liquid mixture into a medium/large bowl. Fold in both egg yolk and egg white mixtures to the almond liquid mixture, until combined.

Step 8: Pour & Bake

Pour resulting mixture into greased cupcake tins. Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden. Take out of oven. Then drop a bit of fruit jam on top of each.

(BTW, when I was making this recipe for the first time, I thought I'd drop the fruit jam on before baking--and, just so you know, it doesn't work very well; all the fruit just sinks to the bottom, and out of view. Instead, as the recipe says, drop the fruit jam on after you bake it. It looks much better anyways.)