Carrot Cupcaking!

In which another weekend with my sister, niece, and I produce more food!

Special occasion style! My mom's birthday was on Saturday. She tries her darndest not to acknowledge it, but come on, she's my mom and it was her bersday. So the girls came over to search for something sweet to make, to watch movies, and generally be lazy, and eventually to suprise my mom when she came home.

We looked on epicurious.com, we looked through SimplyRecipes, and finally we found what we were looking for on the Food Network's web site: Ina Garten's Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting. Barefoot Contessa is my favorite Food Network show; despite how much of a Crazy she can be, she makes some amazing food, and I've never been let down by a recipe of hers. So it was decided, and we headed off to the grocery store to pick up ingredients.

Lots of carrots.

and flowers, for mom!

mixture of shredded carrots, raisins, walnuts... yummyness.

:]]]

Here is the recipe!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes

2 cups sugar

1 1/3 cups vegetable oil

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 extra-large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

3 cups grated carrots (less than 1 pound)

1 cup raisins

1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream Cheese Frosting:

3/4 pound cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 pound confectioners' sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat the sugar, oil, and vanilla together in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the eggs, 1 at a time. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add 1/2 of the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Add the grated carrots, raisins, and walnuts to the remaining flour, mix well, and add to the batter. Mix until just combined.

Line muffin pans with paper liners. Scoop the batter into 22 muffin cups until each is 3/4 full. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and cook for a further 35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a rack.

For the frosting, cream the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the sugar and beat until smooth.

When the cupcakes are cool, frost them generously and serve.

-Jenny