Ingredients for pear and speculaas cupcakes

  • 300 grams ground almonds
  • 1 tbsp coconut flour
  • 4 tsp speculaas spices
  • 1 tsp ground cardamom
  • A pinch of ground ginger
  • a pinch of ground cloves
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil
  • 1 pinch sea salt
  • 3 eggs
  • Rind of 1 organic orange or lemon
  • Juice of 1 organic orange or lemon
  • 3 ripe pears
Optional, for an extra festive touch:
  • A tsp of vanilla powder
  • Two tsp of coconut blossom sugar
  • 1 ounce flaked almonds to decorate

Preparation of pear and speculaas cupcakes

First, combine all dry ingredients, including the spices. Grate the orange/lemon rind and squeeze the juice. Mix the rind, juice and eggs into the dry ingredients. Peel and core the pears and cut into small cubes. Stir into the ground almond mixture. Check whether the mixture is sweet and spicy enough for your taste. If not, add a little extra coconut blossom sugar or more spices. Spoon the mixture into a nice tart tin or bundt cake tin, or into individual cupcake tins (about 15). Press down firmly with the back of a spoon. Bake for 50 minutes at 150 degrees. Leave to cool - first on the bench, then in the fridge. After two hours, remove from the tins. Because the cake doesn't contain gluten (and therefore has less structure than a gluten cake), this recipe is best baked in cupcake tins. Besides, cupcakes look so much more festive!

Tip from Rineke:

For people with digestive problems, gluten allergies, heart problems, weight issues and/or diabetes the holiday season can be a difficult time, because there are few food alternatives that are tasty as well as healthy. For a whole month, everywhere you go you are offered the most calorific, sugary, high-gluten treats (which are also often loaded with transfats). Unfortunately, these treats also demand a lot from you - among other things, they 'steal' large quantities of vitamins, minerals and trace elements, to the detriment of your energy management system and general health. But luckily, there's a completely healthy way that you can do yourself a favour, and still enjoy delicious food! Merry Christmas! If you eat pears as a snack, they send your blood sugar levels sky-high. But in these cupcakes, this effect is mitigated by combining the pear with coconut, ground almond and eggs.