TGIF! I hope you all are ready for the weekend, I know I am. I had a really busy week organizing and for the first time since our home was robbed I spent the week home alone. I was a bit nervous but our new alarm system and my guard dog Harper put my mind at ease. My husband was working on a project at the New York Google office all week. Lucky guy, I would have loved to tag along like I did last summer but the trip came up at the last-minute.
It was his last week working as an IT auditor, he recently took a new job at the company in engineering. He is really excited about the transition and I am hoping that it will give him more opportunities to grow. I originally thought we would be here for three years max, probably because that is the longest that we have lived anywhere. With this new position that means we will be staying longer, how long you ask? Well, your guess is as good as mine. Being the independent lady that I am it is difficult for me to deal with the unknown but I guess I am going to have to keep rolling with the punches…
Okay, on to the recipe. I had lots of leftover shredded carrots from my buffalo chicken lettuce wraps so I decided to look for an easy recipe for carrot cake muffins. I found a good one with homemade cream cheese frosting on Babble so I spent my last night home alone baking. The original recipe was for mini muffins so I made a batch of little guys and a batch of regular size muffins. I thought it would be nice for Chris to take a mix of both sizes to work yesterday for one last sweet treat from the Kuzak’s Closet kitchen before his farewell today.
These muffins were delicious. It’s good news and bad news that they are only two bites, ha! I ended up gobbling up 3 or 4 before I packed them up for Google. I would make them again and freeze part of the batch to pull out for last minute entertaining.
- 3 eggs
- 2/3 cup canola oil
- ½ cup apple sauce (I skipped this because I didn’t have any on hand)
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups sugar
- 2 ½ cups white flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 cup crushed pineapple (I blended canned pineapple that I had in the pantry)
- 3 cups grated carrot
- 1 cup pecans (optional)
- Frosting: 1 8-ounce package light cream cheese, softened, 5 tablespoons butter, softened, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 ½ cup confectioner’s sugar
- Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt in a bowl until well-mixed. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, vanilla and oil with the sugar and apple sauce. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir well. Blend in the milk and mix in the crushed pineapple, carrots and nuts.
- Grease mini-muffin tins with butter or baking spray, and fill ¾ full of batter, using a spoon. Bake for approximately 14 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center (22 minutes for full size muffins).
- Let cool for 10 minutes and pipe of spread frosting on each muffin. (To pipe, place frosting in a freezer bag, cut off a corner and squeeze the frosting onto the muffin). If freezing, place in an airtight container with wax paper in between layers and then make frosting just before serving.
- Frosting: Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment beat the ingredients until smooth, about 5 minutes.
They look just as good full size don’t you think?
I hope you have a wonderful weekend! I am going to try to take it easy and chill for a few days. Next weekend is going to be busy and exciting at the same time. I have lots of exciting organizing projects to work on and my first estate sale of 2013, stay tuned!
Leave a Reply