“Carrots have vitamins that are good for your eyes,” says the kid to her friend. The friend nasally asked “why” and stomped off. She didn’t care about an answer. Lucky me, she came back to the house with an apron built for a kid. My daughter was shocked. I don’t think she has seen me wear an apron…ever. I do have an apron somewhere in some closet that has an ice cream cone from my days working at Perkins.
I decided a week or so ago in some gooey state of crohn’s induced steroid hunger that I needed to make carrot cake muffins/cupcakes…even if I couldn’t actually eat them. I trudged out to buy the ingredients. I promised my daughter some hallmark cooking moments. It was either that or Hannah Montana blasted into the kitchen. I don’t think I can handle more of “It’s the beeeessst of both worlds!” So we went to work after the mad dinner rush. Cooking with your kids can be fun. I am not sharing picture of the cleanup.
I even made the cream cheese frosting to go with…I have never made frosting before.
After much eyeballing recipes on the web, I came up with a recipe that seemed to please all tastes…not too sweet, not too “cimanimony,” and moist.
Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup oil
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup oil
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups grated carrots (raw)
3/4 cup applesauce
1.5 cups chopped pecans or walnuts (I can’t eat nuts, but prefer pecans – tradition is walnuts – I think)
3 eggs
3/4 cup applesauce
1.5 cups chopped pecans or walnuts (I can’t eat nuts, but prefer pecans – tradition is walnuts – I think)
3 eggs
Preheat oven to 350.
Mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, amd salt in one small bowl. In a separate large bowl, beat the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Slowly mix in half the flour mixture. Add in the carrots, applesauce, nuts, and the eggs. Beat well. Add in the rest of the flour.
Have your muffin tins greased or lined and ready to go. Pour batter into cups. Do not overfill. This recipe gave me 24 cupcakes. Bake for 20 minutes.
My daughter scarfed them down. She didn’t even want to wait for it to cool down or for the frosting.
You do need the cream cheese frosting. It’s not a cupcake without the frosting.
Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:
8 oz. of cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups of confectioners sugar
5 tbsp. butter
Ingredients:
8 oz. of cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups of confectioners sugar
5 tbsp. butter
Beat the 3 ingredients together for a few minutes. You have some yummy frosting.
You can spread over the cupcakes or you can just eat straight from the bowl…alternating with bites of cupcake of course.
