Gluten free almond chip cup cakes (or muffins)

I maybe shouldn't admit it, but this recipe, thrown together on a whim, kinda rocked my world the other week. Partially because I happened to be especially hungry post-hill reps,  but mostly because they're just so yummy. Created last minute as part of Amanda's and my Max Muscle Cupcake Project; this was, basically, answering the question: if we lighten up cupcakes, then pour a whole bunch of sport product and nutrients into them, can we consider them recovery food? And either way, can we still call them cupcakes?  Based on this one result, at least, I'm choosing to say yes. A twist on the lemon-berry ricotta muffin recipe from a previous post, I used a mix of rice flour and almond meal. From there, the only changes were adding an extra egg, and swapping dark chocolate chips for the berries. For the purposes of our project, I also included vanilla whey protein and some glutamine  powder. Oh, and later Amanda and I frosted them with Gu. Obviously, these are expendable ingredients, but interestingly, they didn't hurt, and maybe even enhanced, the recipe! What I got was so delicious, they deserve to be called cupcakes whether you frost or not; yet, they're low enough in sugar (especially if you choose berries instead of chocolate--they'll still be great!) to stand proud among muffins as well ... and who doesn't see through the cupcake's flimsy attempt to disguise itself as breakfast with the pseudonym, "muffin"?

I recommend lining your tin with paper cups when you make these--the texture is light and fluffy, but the edges tend to brown and leave your pan in need of a good soak and scrape!

Gluten Free Almond Chip Muffin-Cupcakes

• 1 cup rice flour
• 3/4 cup almond meal (you don't have to go out and buy this, you can just finely grind almonds yourself)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (or honey–but add with wet ingredients if using)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup canola or olive oil
• 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips/pieces
• Cooking spray
• Optional sport cake version we used: 1/3 cup vanilla whey protein powder, 2 T glutamine powder,1 T flax meal (add these with dry ingredients);  Gu gel for frosting

1. Preheat oven to 375°. 2. In a mixing bowl, combine rice flour and almond meal. Add in sugar (if using) and baking powder; make a well in center. Combine ricotta and next ingredients through egg. Add ricotta mixture to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips or pieces. 3. Place 12 muffin-cup liners in muffin cups; coat with cooking spray. Divide batter among muffin cups. Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes in pan on a wire rack.