Cupcake Carrot Cake

YES! Cupcake Carrot Cake! Its cold over here, I want it to smell like cold weather...nutmeg, cinnamon, apples cooking, fresh breads, brown sugar! So I whip out my old recipe Carrot Cake, and I say "old" as in I made this 2 years ago...once. ENJOY the "vintage"! But it turned out really good a second time. And I had some left over brown sugar frosting that is like heaven, oh my god I cannot emphasize how good it is. I must throw it back in the freezer before I start eating it by itself! 

The recipe for these are actually very simple. And I only used a cupcake tin because I'm planning on saving them for breakfasts to have with my coffee.

The recipe goes:

1. In a BIG bowl, whisk up the 4 eggs and then add in the wet ingredients (eggs, 1 ¼ cup oil, 2 teaspoons vanilla, and 2 cups sugar (I use a cup of light and a cup of brown). In a different bowl mix together the dry ingredients: 3 cups flour, 2 teaspoons each baking soda/powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg) *Start preheating oven at 375°F, it'll need at least 30mins on preheat.

2. Once you have your ingredients, pour them into the big bowl and mix them together.

3. Add into the big bowl, 3 cups of grated carrots (I cheated and just put them through the food processor)

4. Once everything has had a good mixy-mixy put into cupcake wrapper lined cupcake tins.

5. Bake for about 20 mins. Check by inserting a toothpick in the middle of one and seeing if it comes clean. If you use this recipe for a cake you need to pour batter into a greased baking pan and bake 40-50 mins.

For the Brown Sugar Frosting:

(I actually had some of this hiding away in the freezer, so I didn't have to make it right away, I just let it defrost about 20 mins. It probably would have thawed quicker had I thought to put it on top of the warm oven before instead of now!)

1. Melt in a pot ½ cup packed brown sugar (light) with 3 tablespoons butter. Let it come to a boil for 1 minute then remove from heat and allow to cool.

2. Once cool, add in ¼ cup of milk with a mixer. Then slowly start mixing in 2 cups of powdered sugar. Mix it until its a frosting-ey consistency. 


Ingredients Cake: 4 eggs, 1 1/4 cup of veg. oil, 2 cups sugar (I used half brown sug, half reg. sugar), 2 cups flour, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 2 teaspoons baking powder, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1 teaspoon nutmeg  Frosting: ½ cup brown sugar, 3 tablespoons butter, ¼ cup milk, and 2 cups powdered sugar



Want more cupcake recipes & ideas, look no further:
Rainbow Cupcakes
Halloween Cupcakes
Hello Kitty Cupcakes

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Although the hype of this addicting snack is dying down, I still love making them every now and then. This super easy recipe is a great side dish to other finger foods or an entire meal!

1. Preheat oven to 450°f. Next wash and cut your sweet potato. Id love to say I leave the peel on for "extra flavoring" but its really just because I'm super lazy! So don't even worry about peeling them! You can cut them into fries shapes or wedges. Just don't make them too thick or they will take forever to bake!

2. In a large bowl or on your baking sheet, toss the fries with ¼ cup of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of seasoned salt, 2 tablespoon of Cajun seasoning (my new favorite seasoning!). 

3. Then arrange on a baking sheet and dust with paprika. These were a little thicker and took a while to cook, so this is a great example of what is too thick! Bake for 25-30 mins. Sometimes I set it on broil for the last couple minutes just to get the tops crispy too, but most of the time I just can't wait to eat them. 

  And there you have them! Baked not fried, so they are healthy!...right?!


Ingredients: 2 sweet potatoes, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 tablespoon seasoned salt, 2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning, 1 teaspoon paprika


Other veggie side dishes:
Smashed Potatoes
Asparagus
Cabbage