Bake with Patsitivity #4: Carrots in cupcakes, why not?

Helloooooo Foodies in Hive!!! It's been almost four (4) months since I last shared with you one of my tried and tested baking recipes. I must have forgotten I have a pile of great recipes as every month I add one on my "Successfully Baked List". But worry not for I finally have time to go through my list and now, I'm sharing one with you.

I started mindfully eating when my weight went out of control in my early twenties. Mindful eating is not the same as creating a list of foods I couldn't eat. Rather with this mindful eating comes the commitment to always make sure that I get the Go, Glow, and Grow foods into my daily food intake. The idea of creating this recipe was aligned with the endeavor to stay healthy. I've noticed in the past (and you may have noticed it, too) that the baked good recipes I've shared were all packed with sugar and chocolates which is basically more sugar. So I decided to create one which will somehow balance the nutritional value of the baked good and that's when I decided to make carrot cupcakes, plain and simple without frosting.

Haven't tried any baked good with vegetables? Well, this must be the sign that you bake one real soon. Let's dig into the recipe. Let's get moving!

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Here are the ingredients you'll need

Okay, I can see you face now! You brows are almost creating a bridge in your face. 😅Don't be overwhelmed with the number of ingredients you'll see in the photo below. We'll go through them one by one.

Starting with the Wet Ingredients. Generally, baking ingredients are divided into two major group wet ingredients and dry ingredients. Don't get too excited, we'll tackle the wet ingredients first.

What you'll need is

4 large eggs
2 tsps. vanilla extract _{(not in the photo but added during mixing)}
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup full cream milk (or fresh milk)

For the oil, any cooking oil will do, but as much as possible, if vegetable oil is available, make sure to use it. It'll be great if you can use fresh eggs, too. the one I used weren't too fresh as you can see the egg yolks were already mixed with the egg white (without any human intervention).

For the dry ingredients, you have to prepare the following:

1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsps. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
3 tsps. cinnamon powder
1 tsp. salt
2 cups finely shredded carrots
chopped nuts (peanut in my case)

For the nuts, the one readily available in my area was peanuts but take note that you can always use any type of nut to your liking and of course, subject to availability. You may opt to add mixed nuts as well. Hmmmm... I just thought of that, maybe I'll do that for my next recipe. Whatever nuts you'll be using make sure to cook it lightly in oil before chopping it.

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Baking procedure

Now before the excitement leaves your body, let's get into the baking procedure, shall we?

In a dry and clean mixing bowl (steel or any bowl available), add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, white sugar and brown sugar.

Add the salt and cinnamon powder, too.

Using a whisk, mix all dry ingredients. No need to overmix.

Make a crater-like structure in the middle of the dry-ingredient mixture, then add the cooking oil just like below.

Then slowly mix well making sure that your dry ingredients have been thoroughly mixed with the oil and no lump are noted. Keep mixing only until the batter becomes smooth.

After making sure that everything's well mixed, add the eggs and mix thoroughly again. By this time, the batter will thicken up and mixing using the whisk will be a bit difficult but not impossible. Again, just mix until the egg's incorporated into the batter. Do not overmix.

Then add the milk and mix once again. By this time mixing using a spatula will be a better idea.

Then finally, add the main ingredient, shredded carrots into the batter.

Make sure to mix the carrot well into the batter, distributing the carrot evenly into the batter mixture. This is to ensure each cupcake gets the same quantity of carrots.

Lastly, although this is optional, add the chopped nuts. You may also set aside some chopped nuts for garnishing.

Baking time! Put the batter into cupcake molds (silicone or stainless steel molds) and distribute evenly to achieve the same size. Make sure to preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C) and bake the cupcakes for about 15-20 minutes. Honestly, I don't time my baking but 15-20 minutes is the standard time for baking cupcakes. In my case, I just check after 10 minutes and adjust from there.

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The result

Now, I know what you've been looking forward to... the output of this recipe. Without further ado, here you go. I'm quite happy with the results so here's a warning: I took a lot of photos and couldn't decide which one to use so I used all haha

A few more photos before I wrap up this post. As you can see, I let my creative side take over and used some shredded fresh carrots as garnish. Why not? 😁

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In the end, I like the result of this little experiment but deep inside I could hear the voice saying "I wouldn't bake this again". The reason? My mother didn't like it, she found it weird that carrots were used in this recipe. I bake at home and my testers are my parents so I better please them next time. 😂

Nonetheless, if you are looking for something new other than the sweet cookies, brownies, this one might be it! Give it a try and let me know if the recipe worked for you, too.

Happy eating and see you in my next food-related post! 😁

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