Carrot Cupcakes

I know this is the second post in a row using carrots, but since my favorite grocery store had an amazing deal on them recently ($1.50 for three pounds), I knew I had to come up with some new recipes.  I forwarded a picture of the cupcakes to Dominic's teacher and told him I could make them for the classroom Halloween party.  His teacher's response back was, "the cupcakes look awesome and I love cream cheese frosting!" As a special surprise, I went over to the school at lunchtime on Friday and brought the classroom a dozen so they could "sample" them ahead of time.  These cupcakes can stand alone with no frosting, but they are super delicious with the cream cheese frosting!  A lot of cream cheese frosting recipes also have butter in them, this doesn't. It's plenty sweet just with the cream cheese and confectioners' sugar.  Enjoy!


Carrot Cupcakes:

1 cup white sugar
1 cup white flour
2 large eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups carrots, peeled and finely shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put paper liners into a 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.  In large bowl, put all ingredients in the order given.  Mix with large spoon by hand until well combined and distribute evenly between the paper liners. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean.  Remove from oven and let cool for five minutes. Remove to wire rack to continue cooling. Makes 12 cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In small bowl, put all ingredients in the order given.  Using an electric mixer, whip frosting until smooth. This is enough frosting to cover 24 cupcakes.