Raw Brownie Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache (best dessert ever)

These are absolutely delicious. They are better than the normal brownie in my opinion (and that's saying something)....I figured this recipe out when I had yet more pulp from making raw milk saved up in my freezer, and wanted to try something new. (this time I happened to have almond, coconut and cashew pulp, but it could work well with any of these...though adding coconut pulp gives some lightness I think).  The Someone Who Doesn't Like Sweets has eaten five of these in the last 3 days. What's more, they are vegan, raw and grain/soy/processed sugar-free...so do yourself a favor and make some of these to eat yourself or to share for Valentine's Day.

These cupcakes are very moist but not too dense (not like recipes using ground nuts), and the chocolate ganache on top is the perfect smooth, sweet foil to the brownie underneath.

As an added bonus, if you are using fresh pulp from newly made nut milk, you can pour yourself up a tall glass to have with your cupcake - the best dessert I can think of.

Raw Brownie Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache

Makes 12 cupcakes formed in a muffin tin, or you could shape this with cookie cutters, or make into little donut shapes, or form into one big cake or tray of brownies, if you like.

Brownie Layer:
1 cup dry nuts (not soaked): I used walnuts but you could sub in pecans or brazils
2 cups nut pulp from making homeade nut milk. I used 1 cup almond pulp, 1/2 cup coconut pulp and 1/2 cup cashew pulp
20 medjool dates, pitted, and soaked in fresh water for15 minutes
2 Tbsp or so date-soaking water
2/3 cup raw cacao (if you don't have this, you can use cocoa powder, but these are no longer technically raw then...if that matters to you)
2 Tbsp almond butter (again use raw if you have it, if not, ah well)
pinch of salt

If I were at home, I would mix these ingredients in a food processor. In this particular kitchen I don't have a food processor, so I whizzed the nuts in a spice grinder (getting some fine nut flour and some bigger chunks of nuts, which I like in brownies). Then I added that to the nut pulp in a bowl, along with the cacao, and mixed it together with a fork. I chopped up the dates till they began to break down a bit, then dumped into the bowl with the almond butter, salt and a little drizzle of date-soaking water, and mixed everything by hand, squishing the dough to break down most of the date pieces, adding a tiny amount of water at a time to achieve the right consistency (sticks together but isn't too wet!)

I lined a muffin tin with muffin papers and pressed mixture into each nearly to the top. (I had a bit of extra dough and made a chocolate 'donut' as well...but ate it before I could take its photograph!)

Put the tray in the freezer to firm up the cupcakes while you move on to making Ganache:

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (to melt the oil, stand the container in a bowl full of hot water until enough oil melts to measure out)
1/2 cup cacao or cocoa
3 tbsp agave syrup
tiny pinch salt

Mix the ingredients well with a whisk, then spread over your cupcakes. If the mixture gets too thick to spread, put the bowl inside a bowl of hot water to re-melt to spreading consistency. Return iced cupcakes to freezer for 5 minutes or to the fridge for at least an hour before serving. These keep very well in the fridge (at least a week) and in the freezer, if you can hold out from eating them all!