Carrot Cupcakes

As with most recipes, there's a story behind this. I've got a friend who enjoys the products of my cooking in general, but she's also got a bit of a hang-up about vegetables in desserts. It's not an entirely consistent issue (e.g. she has no problems when it comes to eating my yucca-based cinnamon rolls), but it did crop up when I'd made some of The Paleo Mom's zucchini muffins.

So, one day, while I looking at what perishable goods I had at hand, I found myself with a surplus of carrots and mostly-yellow/slightly-green plantains. I'd never tried to make something which combined those two, but the flavor combination seemed reasonable in my head, and carrot cake is something that I have a degree a familiarity with, so I decided to experiment with mashing them together. Both for ease of handling and for portion control (in case it turned out really good, which it did), I opted for cooking it in cupcake cups instead of general cake pan. I ended up with something promising enough to keep working on refining it for the next few weeks (consuming the results to dispose of them was purely a secondary benefit, of course).

Once I got to the point where I was happy with it, my thoughts went back to my veggie-adverse friend. As it turned out, carrot cake was something that she liked, so I made a batch for her to test to ensure the recipe was suitable for public release. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive (save for the walnut chunks being too big, but that's purely a product of my having crushed them by hand for that batch because I was too deep into things when I realized that I didn't have any pre-ground walnuts available), and so, here it is.

---

Ingredients:

• 2 medium green plantains

• 2 medium carrots, grated (about 1.5-2 cups)

• 4 eggs

• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted

• 1/3 cup maple syrup

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 cup walnuts (grind to desired coarseness in a food processor)

• 1/2 cup coconut flour

• 1 Tbsp arrowroot flour

• 1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

• 1-1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

• 1-1/4 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a muffin pan.

2. Puree the plantains with a blender, mixer, or food processor (I find using an immersion blender in a large bowl works best).

3. Mix in the carrots until combined well (the mixture should total about 4-5 cups).

4. Add eggs, coconut oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract (tip: if using silicon cupcake cups, after adding the coconut oil to the mixture, use any excess to lightly grease the insides for easier removal after cooking). Mix until combined well.

5. Add remaining ingredients. Blend until uniform. The batter should end up with a thick slurry texture. If it is too wet, add more coconut flour (I'd suggest 1 tsp at a time and letting it sit for about 30 seconds after mixing, because coconut flour is extremely absorbent).

6. Scoop the mixture into the pan, leaving about 1/4" (6 mm) for expansion during cooking. Excess mixture can be dolloped onto a parchment paper-lined baking pan for extra cookies.

7. Bake for 40 minutes or until cooked through (any extra cookies will cook much faster, usually 15-30 minutes, depending on thickness).

8. Let cool, and enjoy eating them!

#recipe