Kitchen Therapy: Carrot Spice Cupcakes with Vanilla-Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

  

image courtesy of: http://www.cafepress.com/+keep_calm_cupcakes_large_poster,575093495

Somewhere in between two sick children (one really, really sick -more then the run-of-the-mill cold), a garage that flooded (yes, we had some of our things damaged) due to several main pipes bursting and creating what looked like a mini Niagara Falls from the ceiling of the garage, a migraine that lasted almost two days,  a husband who had a massive exam and meeting all day Saturday, no groceries in the house, the poor baby not being able to nap and/or sleep for the past three days, and the general chaos that accompanies all these events, I decided there was nothing left to do but bake some cupcakes -because you see, I have many forms of "hobby therapy" and "kitchen therapy" is one of them -especially when it involves cupcakes. So, during a fleeting baby nap (which didn't even last the duration of the cupcake assembly) I ignored the teetering pile of dishes that really did look as if it had been carefully constructed in a sort of daring Jenga-like fashion, and set to work on these Carrot and Spice Cupcakes with Almond-Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting. Again, in keeping with seasonal foods -carrots are a nice winter veggie and rich in vitamins A,K, and C -all beneficial especially during gunk-fest (aka flu) season. Were these fluffy delights the answer to the blunders of the weekend, no -but they certainly put a frosting-smeared smile on all our grouchy faces.

(Discalimer -I usually adapt my recipes from ones I have seen or memorized elsewhere at some point in time and then I add my own twists to them. I usually (basically never) write down the recipes so when I type them I am largely doing it out of memory and a lot of  'eye balling' on amounts and measurements. I hope these turn out for you -if not, my lack of dedication in documenting these recipes is entirely to blame. Sorry!)

Carrot Spice Cupcakes with Almond-Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

-1 cup all purpose flour, spooned and leveled 

-1 tsp baking soda

-1/4 tsp ground cardamom

-1/4 tsp ground cinnamon (or you can use 1/2 tsp cinnamon if you have no cardamom)

-1/4 tsp salt

-2 large eggs

-1/2 cup granulated sugar

-1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

-1/3 cup full fat vanilla or plain yogurt 

-1 cup packed and finely shredded carrots (about 2 medium size carrots)

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray.

In a medium bowl whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt. Set aside. 

In a small bowl whisk eggs, sugars, and yogurt until smooth. Gently mix egg mixture into dry ingredients -just until moistened. Be careful not to over mix. Gently fold in carrots. Spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean -about 16-18 minutes. Cool and the frost.

Vanilla-Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:

-one package of cream cheese, softened to room temperature

-1 cup of powdered sugar -sifted

-1 tbsp heavy cream

-1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (avoid imitation as it really hasn't half the flavor of real)

-1/2 tsp almond extract (again, use the real stuff)

Directions:

In a medium-large bowl, mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, and heavy cream with an electric mixer on medium-high. Add the vanilla and almond extract and mix on high until incorporated. Frost cupcakes and keep the finished cupcakes in the fridge for up to four days for freshness (if they last that long...)

In the spirit of crazy days and the adventures of motherhood, busy lives, and family, I thought I would include this post from a facebook 'rant' a while ago that really was more of a blog-esque thing than a status update thing. This is not particularly relevant to this season, instead it is relevant to every season of  out fast paved lives. Enjoy~

As a mother of three kids (and I assume mothers of any number or even every day busy people can relate to this topic) I have more spider jar days than not. What is a spider jar day you ask? It is a day where the tea I made goes cold on the kitchen table because motherly duties are so many that I am not able to sit down for a moment and take a sip, and the tea is reheated three times subsequently but still sits next to the open magazine article that I intended to read that will most likely be moved to accommodate coloring books before I can glance at one line. It is a day when so many toys have amassed on the floors that I consider two things: First -the movie Ghost Dad in which he dies from tripping on a toy at the top of the stairs, and Second- that my kids have become first-world spoiled brats and should only be allowed to play with yarn and boxes hereafter (which they would actually love and actually do sometimes). It is a day when I yell at the cake crumbs sticking to the bottom of my feet so I get the broom out but the baby has a dirty diaper and then I realize the water for the intended early start to dinner is boiling over and burning over the crusted-on pizza sauce from last night. When I go back to get the broom it is instead being used as a make-shift light saber and then makes contact with a little face resulting in consoling for that little face and a time out for the other little face. It is a day in which two unsuspecting spiders get lost inside trying to escape the cold (and who can blame them because it is damn cold out there) and because of some unaccounted for Buddhist streak in me I refuse to kill them because I have a fascination and obsessive reverence for even the smallest, ugliest living thing. I want so desperately to teach my runts that same empathy and so I do things like pray that they are never the kids smashing ants on the sidewalk for fun, and I 'save' spiders in jars with the intent of setting them free "in just a minute when I go get a paper to slide under the jar and move it outside." However, on days like today, considering that today is a fairly common day and not some outlandishly busy day, my saint-like intent outweighs reality and by the time I get around to freeing the creature my kids are fast asleep and unable to observe the act of kindness or, on more than one occasion, the poor arachnid is dead by the time I get to it from any variety of causes -starvation, fright, or being jostled too may times by passers by. Shame on IT! Shame on the reality of hardened sweet potato on the chair and the wet Pull-Up from this morning that never quite made it into the garbage can (and for the record, my kids do chores and clean up after themselves at the end of every day, but come on folks -you have to understand children make messes much faster than they clean them up and that is just how it is). So, my point is that I try. I try, try, try to teach my children something worthwhile, to set some worthwhile example amidst the every day chaos in the hopes that on those days where my kids think I am the meanest, grouchiest person on the planet (and I very well may be on some days), they can say, "Well, she can't be too evil because she doesn't even kill spiders." Today there are two spiders in jars -waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting for the lady who rushes from item a to item b. Waiting to be liberated even if it is to the cold winter air because that is where spiders belong -not trapped inside a lemon curd jar. So, I am going to post this, ask my kids to grab a paper, cross my fingers that both spiders have survived the chasing, spilling, and yelling, and set them free. Today just may be a successful spider jar day.