Gluten Free Dairy Free Pistachio Cupcakes in a Jar

There will be no corned beef and cabbage for my family this year on St. Patrick’s Day. We have been invited to spend the day in the country with some wonderful friends for a picnic/barbeque.

Being as my maiden name is O’Neal, I needed to come up with some way to commemorate the day unless I wanted a bunch of Irish relatives coming after me with pitchforks or rolling over in their graves.

I decided to make some gluten-free pistachio cupcakes to share with our friends. I have no idea if pistachios are particularly popular in Ireland but they are green so it works, right?

I have visions of making my own pistachio paste, baking the gluten free cupcakes totally from scratch with some pistachio pastry cream and then topping them off with a traditional buttercream frosting. Nice plan – in theory. Truth be told, I just don’t have the time for all that!

So I took a few shortcuts. I started with Kinnikinnick Gluten Free White Cake mix and added a box of Jell-O Instant Pistachio Pudding to the mix for the cupcakes and made a simple dairy-free buttercream with Spectrum Organic All Vegetable Shortening, a splash of lemon juice, and organic powdered sugar. The cupcakes are moist, delectable and a perfectly respectable shade of green. The splash of lemon in the frosting compliments the cupcakes wonderfully and keeps them from being too sweet.

Since I saved so much time with my shortcuts, I figured I could go the extra step and turn these into cupcakes in a jar. I mean how fun is that? Ideal for a day in the country.

I am a bit of a jar hoarder so I just went to my jar bin (yes! I have a jar bin) and grabbed a dozen 8-ounce canning jars but if you are a normal, non-jar-hoarding person you can pick up a dozen inexpensively at the hardware or grocery store.

Of course you can just serve these as regular cupcakes but to make them cupcakes in a jar simply bake your cupcakes in a standard muffin tin lined with cupcake papers, let the cupcakes cool, remove the cupcake papers, slice in half horizontally and layer with frosting. You are going to use three cupcake halves per jar (that’s the really great news – not just a cupcake but a cupcake and a half!) pressing down lightly as you layer. Top the jars with the lids and these babies will keep in the fridge for 3 days. If you refrigerate your cupcakes, let them come to room temperature before serving for the best flavor.

Here’s wishing you a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day!

Check out this Gluten Free Dairy Free Pistachio Cupcakes in a Jar recipe in action here on Daytime TV!

4.67 from 3 votes

Print Recipe

Gluten Free Dairy Free Pistachio Cupcakes in a Jar

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time26 mins

Total Time46 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 12 cupcakes in a jar

Calories: 307kcal

Author: Gluten Free & More

Ingredients

• ▢ 4 large eggs
• ▢ ¾ cup grapeseed or other neutral tasting oil
• ▢ ¾ cup water
• ▢ 1 (3.4 ounce) package instant pistachio pudding
• ▢ 1 (18 ounce) package Kinnikinnick white cake mix
• ▢ Easy Dairy Free Buttercream Frosting recipe follows
• ▢ ¼ cup shelled roasted, and salted pistachios – chopped

Instructions

• ▢
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 18 standard muffin tins with cupcake papers.
• ▢
  In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the eggs, water, and oil. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Turn off mixer, add the pistachio pudding mix and beat until combined. Turn the mixer to low and gradually add the cake mix. Beat until just combined. With a rubber spatula, scrape the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl to make sure all the ingredients are uniformly combined. Divide the batter among the prepared muffin tins filling about 2/3 full. Bake for 22 – 26 minutes or until the cupcakes spring back when touched lightly and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely. Remove the liners from the cupcakes and slice in half horizontally.
• ▢
  While the cupcakes are baking and cooling, prepare the frosting.
• ▢
  For each cupcake in a jar place a cupcake half (use the bottom halves in the bottom of the jar) pipe on or spoon in some frosting, add another cupcake half, another layer of frosting, one more cupcake half (use a top for the final layer) and one more layer of frosting. Sprinkle the top with some chopped pistachios.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Gluten Free Dairy Free Pistachio Cupcakes in a Jar

Amount Per Serving

Calories 307 Calories from Fat 144

% Daily Value*

Fat 16g25%

Saturated Fat 1g5%

Cholesterol 54mg18%

Sodium 422mg18%

Potassium 30mg1%

Carbohydrates 36g12%

Fiber 1g4%

Sugar 20g22%

Protein 2g4%

Vitamin A 80IU2%

Calcium 36mg4%

Iron 0.3mg2%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe

Easy Dairy Free Buttercream Frosting

Prep Time10 mins

Total Time10 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: 12 cupcakes in a jar

Calories: 311kcal

Author: Gluten Free & More

Ingredients

• ▢ 1 cup All Vegetable Non-hydrogenated shortening such as Spectrum
• ▢ 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• ▢ 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 4 cups powdered sugar
• ▢ 4 tablespoons rice milk

Instructions

• ▢
  Place the shortening, lemon juice, and vanilla in an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Beat on high speed until very creamy. Turn off the mixer, add the powdered sugar and beat until combined (start with the mixer on low and gradually increase the speed.) With the mixer running add the rice milk, 1 tablespoon at a time until the frosting is creamy and spreadable. Once the desired consistency is achieved, beat on high speed for 1 minute.

Nutrition

Nutrition Facts

Easy Dairy Free Buttercream Frosting

Amount Per Serving

Calories 311 Calories from Fat 153

% Daily Value*

Fat 17g26%

Saturated Fat 4g20%

Sodium 3mg0%

Carbohydrates 40g13%

Sugar 39g43%

Vitamin C 0.2mg0%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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