Carrot Cake Muffins/Cupcakes

Really, these just give me an excuse to eat cream cheese icing first thing in the morning.

And who wouldn't want to do that??

Seriously though, I've served these as muffins (AM) and as cupcakes (Birthday celebration) and they are equally as delicious at any time of the day! I'm thinking that carrot cake in cake form means that it has to be dessert, while in muffin form, you can eat it at anytime. In that case, all my carrot desserts will be in muffin form :)

I prefer my carrot cake without nuts, so I left them out, and added lots of cream cheese frosting, just to cancel out the healthiness of the carrot :) Enjoy!

Carrot Cake Muffins/Cupcakes

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 large eggs, room temp

3/4 c oil (canola or sunflower, vege will work)

1tsp vanilla

1 c sugar

1.5 cups shredded carrots

1/2 c chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and line a 12 cup muffin tin (or a mini muffin tin) with paper liners

In an electric mixer, whisk together eggs, oil, vanilla, sugar on high for about 5 minutes until it resembles a runny mayonnaise. Stir in flour, baking soda, and cinnamon until combined. Stir in carrots (and pecans).

Divide batter among muffin tins (about 1/2-2/3 full), bake about 18-20 minutes for regular muffins or 8-10 min for mini muffins (inserted toothpick should come out clean). Cool in pan 5 minutes, then take out allow to cool completely. Frost with cream cheese icing!

Cream Cheese Icing

1 package (8oz) softened cream cheese

1/2 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Cream together until smooth. Try not to eat the whole bowl until you are done frosting the cupcakes/muffins.

Apple Picking Part 1

We've been meaning to go apple picking the past three falls, but somehow always end up missing the season. Growing up in Virginia, my family would drive up to the mountains when the weather turned fall-ish and pick tons of apples. So, as soon as the weather breaks in North Carolina, I look up places to go apple picking and find that everything has already been picked! Luckily, I was early this year, so on a nice, hot Sunday, we drove about an hour away to pick the last few apples off the trees.

The only kind of apple that was left was Fuji, and there were only a few trees full of apples, but super-tall Patrick was able to reach the untouched apples at the top, and all I had to do was hold the basket! It took us all of 10 minutes to pick half a bushel, which was about all I could carry.

Then the fun began.... First, we needed to wash them. The farm where we picked them gave us instructions to fill our sink with water and add a little bit of bleach (about 2 tablespoons), and soak the apples for 5 minutes.

Bobbing anyone? Then, I transfered them to a rack and rinsed them off really well to get rid of the bleach.

Unfortunately, they were still dirty, so then it was time to shine each apple. This took for FOREVER, and used up at least 3 wash rags, but most of the ugly dirt spots came off of each apple easily.

Don't they look so pretty in that bowl?

The first thing to make with them was an apple pie. There was a recipe that I had my eyes on for a while, so I decided to try it. I need a few more tries to get the pie perfect, but I can tell you that the crust was delicious! It didn't use butter, but had shortening in it, making it really crisp and flaky.

The Fuji apples were a little tart for the pie, and not sweet enough for me, even though I added much more sugar than the recipe called for. Next time I'll probably use store bought granny smith apples.

I did get to finally use my pie plate that's been staring at me all summer - did you notice that it matches the bowl? I also have a mixing bowl in the same pattern - they are all from a fantasic pottery store called Irvin Pottery in Seward, Alaska.

Stay tuned for more apple recipes!

Happy Halloween!

What better way to celebrate Halloween than to attempt to get all of your favorite Halloween candy in one bite? I couldn't think of one, so I made Halloween Candy Bark!

You can totally mix it up with any candy that you want - I used Reese's Pieces and Reese's Peanut butter cups, Butterfingers, Heath Bars, and Honey Roasted Peanuts - yum!

All you do is melt some bittersweet chocolate (I actually did a mixture of semisweet and bittersweet because that was the chips I had) and spread it in a foil-lined baking sheet to about 1/4 of an inch. While it is still warm, add all the chopped Halloween candy you want! I froze mine before chopping so they stay together easier. To finish, melt some white chocolate* and drizzle over top. Put in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour until chilled, then break into pieces and eat!

Be forewarned - this stuff is addicting!

*for readers that will remain un-named & used up 3 bags of chips, here is how to melt white chocolate: Don't put it directly over the heat if doing it on the stovetop - use a double boiler or boil water in a pot and then put your bowl with the chocolate overtop. OR put the chocolate in a microwave and microwave for one minute, stir, then in 15 minute intervals until melted. If you need to drizzle or make it thinner, you can add some shortening, vege oil, or butter.