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carrot cupcakes

Carrot Lentil Whoopie Pies

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This recipe is the combination of a Carrot Cupcake and a Pumpkin Whoopie Pie recipe. Yes it is possible to put pureed lentils into cookies which is how we got to these Carrot Lentil Whoopie Pies. And the kids don’t have a clue.

Batch one came about last week. Just before I got hit with a wicked head cold and the sick. Needless to say I couldn’t taste them, so I didn’t bother to ice them. Just sent the cookies out as is to friends, teachers at the school and of course my husband’s work mates. The feedback I got was incredible. Words like “exotic flavours” and the perfect amount of spice. Others advised there wasn’t enough spice. All good feedback since I cut back on sugar and oil in this recipe. The other surprise for everyone was they contained pureed green lentils. In fact you can put pureed lentils into most baking for that extra protein kick. Loved the feedback, which helped immensely.

Lentil cookie round two came about today. My sniffer was back, taste buds in check, a few modifications I needed to make were made and I think batch two was way better than the first batch from last week. Will have to wait to hear from the testers again but this time they have been iced.

One thing I decided to change with batch two was only using baking soda. In batch one I used baking soda and powder. The cookies were pretty big. This time, without using baking powder, they still turned out puffy. So the kids are enjoying eating them as singles with a dollop of icing on top. I say whatever works.

This will be my second entry into the Canadian Lentils Contest and my baked goods entry. I further created a Lentil Balls recipe a couple weeks ago, well according to the photo dates, it was March 5th. But the sick and all kinds of other stuff has kept me from getting that recipe posted. Soon I hope.

These cookies are moist, not too sweet, yet flavourful and I’m told delicious as is or with a dollop of icing in the middle.

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Carrot Lentil Whoopie Pies
Author: 
Recipe type: snack, cookie, whoopie pie
Serves: 20
 
Ingredients
  • 3½ cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 3 tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp cloves
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3 eggs
  • ½ cup white sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup canola oil
  • 2 jars pureed baby carrot food
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ cup pureed green lentils
  • ½ cup shredded coconut
  • 1 cup carrots, shredded
  • additional cooked lentils for top, optional
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. In a large bowl mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt.
  3. In a second bowl whisk together your eggs, sugars, canola oil, baby carrot food, vanilla and green lentils. Stir in coconut and carrots.
  4. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix well to combine.
  5. Use a small cookie scoop or a large rounded tablespoon to drop the dough onto the baking sheets. It is important they are uniform in size and shape. Space 1 inch apart.
  6. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of cookie comes out clean and it lightly springs back when touched. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool completely on a cooling rack.
  7. Once cooled, ice with cream cheese icing.
Notes
To making cream cheese icing, beat together ¼ cup softened butter, 1 8 oz block of softened cream cheese, 1 tsp vanilla, pinch of salt and 2½ cups icing sugar.

 

Carrot Cupcakes

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Last year I hosted one of many mom/daughter playdates. The mom brought Carrot Cupcakes. Without a doubt these were the best carrot cupcakes I had ever tasted. So I asked for and received the recipe. Finally I am making these delectable cupcakes (but with some changes)!

I do not do well with vegetable oils in muffins, and baking. I can taste it in the food, and sometimes it just doesn’t agree with me. I started using canola oil & apple sauce to replace veggie oil, and everything tastes better.

These cupcakes are so moist, and flavourful you will be surprised to learn they are made using store bought pureed baby carrot food. I’ve never bought carrot baby food, and so this was a first. I can’t say exactly what it is that makes this cupcake taste so darn good, but if it’s the baby food then I’m sold. These cupcakes are not too sweet, and melt in your mouth. In fact I have to hide them from my husband as he loves them.

Cupcakes are frosted with a Cream Cheese Frosting.

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Carrot Cupcakes
Author: 
 
Ingredients
  • 3 cups all purpose flour
  • 2¾ cups white sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking soda
  • 3 tsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup canola oil
  • 1 container snack size motts plain apple sauce (111gr)
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 1-2 cups grated carrot
  • 2 jars (4.5oz each) carrot puree baby food
  • 1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Get your muffin tins ready by spraying with pam or inserting liners.
  2. In a bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well. In separate bowl whisk your eggs, oil, apple sauce and vanilla. Add wet to dry ingredients beating well for about 1 minute. Add in your grated carrots, carrot puree and coconut mixing until just combined. If you find the batter dry add another dollop of apple sauce or tbsp of oil.
  3. Pour batter into prepared muffin tins (only fill about ¾ full) and bake in oven until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Take pans out of oven and let cupcakes cool in pans 5-10 minutes before transferring to wire rack. Let cool completely.
  4. Mini muffins took about 15 minutes. Regular size muffins took approximately 23 minutes.
  5. You are now ready to ice your cupcakes. We made both normal & mini cupcakes for a total of 21 normal size cupcakes and 24 mini cupcakes. My mini chefs had a great time icing them! You can also make this recipe into a cake using 2 x 8 or 9 inch cake pans and baking 45-50 minutes.