I have trouble defining things.

Like, it it a baked donut, or a muffin in donut shape?

A cupcake?  Or a muffin?  Does the sole addition of icing define if it is a cupcake or a muffin?  This baby is sweet though.

It does have chocolate shavings on top.  Does that count as icing?

I really don’t know.

Being a self-proclaimed foodie, I feel like I should though.  Maybe I’m wrong, but I feel like these are somehow obvious things that people know.

I strongly suspect I am overthinking things.

So whatever, I shall move on from my musings.  I shall investigate at a later point in time.  Meanwhile, I implore you to weigh in your thoughts in the comments.

Either way, these babies are super delicious.

I’ve been on a big chocolate kick, especially after visiting my favorite chocolate shop, Mast Brothers.

I mean, this stuff is the best- the only ingredients are cacao and cane sugar.  That’s it.  It’s ridiculously intense and I love how different each region can taste.  During my last visit I bought their Origin Collection with the intention of gifting the bars to family members for Christmas, only to realize that actually, most of my family isn’t into super intense dark chocolate.

So it didn’t end up being gifted.

And I ended up eating it.

Oh the woe.

One thing that I like about dark chocolate though, is that while I enjoy eating it, it’s usually intense enough that I practice restraint and so it lasts a while.  It’s also the most amazing thing to use when baking and with citrus being so abundant, I figured hey, why not combine the two!

So that’s exactly what happened- chocolate, clementine-y goodness.

I savored these like no tomorrow because it’l be one of my last baked goods for a while.

Chocolate Clementine Cupcakes

Makes 8

3 Clementines

3 Medium Eggs

1/2 Cup Raw Turbinado Sugar

1 1/2 Cups Almond Flour

1 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

2 TBSP Cacao

1/2 tsp Salt

1 Small Dark Chocolate Bar

Add clementines to a saucepan and cover with water.  Simmer over medium/high heat and cover with a lid.  Cook for 1 hour (make sure to check water level and add more as needed!)

Drain remaining water, one cool, slice clementines into quarters and remove seeds.  Add to food processor or blender (including skins) and process until smooth.

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a small bowl, mix in almond flour, sugar, baking powder, cacao and salt.  Whip eggs in a separate bowl and add to dry mixture along with vanilla extract and clementine puree.  Carefully fold together.

Lightly grease a nonstick muffin tin and pour in mixture.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until cupcakes are cooked through.

Grate chocolate bar on top to garnish.