Thanksgiving Eve Baking.

Carrot cupcakes have been on my list of new things to bake for quite some time now. Never making a carrot cake before, I searched and searched for the perfect recipe and finally constructed something that was moist and delicious and, not to mention, extremely light on the calories and fat! Thanksgiving seemed to be the appropriate time to try out these little beauties, and I must say, they were a success! Usually carrot cake is paired with cream cheese frosting, which I find to be amazing, but I thought it would be interesting to put a little spin on the typical cream cheese frosting and spice it up with some cinnamon. After sampling my precious treats, I've decided that carrot cupcakes were going to be on the menu for years to come. Enjoy!

CARROT CAKE CUPCAKES FOR THANKSGIVING
2 1/2 cup or whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup natural applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups finely shredded carrots

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 18 muffin cups with paper liners.
Sift together the first 5 ingredients. In a large bowl, whisk the oil, brown sugar and eggs until well combined. Whisk in the applesauce, vanilla and carrots. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Divide the batter between the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Nutritional Info:

Calories- 160

Fat- 5

Carbohydrates- 25

　

Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

3 (8 oz.) Pkgs. Cream Cheese; softened.
¾ cup butter; softened.

3 cups confectioners’ sugar.

2 tsp. vanilla.

1/4 cup cinnamon.*

In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter until creamy. Mix in vanilla. Gradually stir in sugar and cinnamon.

* Yes, this seems like alot of cinnamon, but because the recipes makes quite a bit of frosting, I wanted the cinnamon flavor to be strong.

I also divided up some frosting and added green and orange food coloring to it to pipe on the carrot decorations.

Happy Thanksgiving Bakers!