tuftears | Meowy Kitsmas! With Applesauce Carrot Cupcakes!

Meowy Kitsmas, y'all!

In lieu of a family get-together (most of the relatives are away in SoCal and such) I baked myself some applesauce carrot cupcakes to go with my omelette today. This time, I didn't use cupcake liners. "Tufty," I told myself. "You have non-stick cupcake pans. Why don't you trust them to do their thing?"

... It worked. :)

Behold! They have little chunks of Gala apples in them as well as carrots because I find that considerably improves the flavor. Also, cinnamon sugar and orange/lemon zest sprinkled on top as a makeshift topping.

Edited to add recipe

1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (cut into pea-sized bits)
1/2 cup honey
1 egg (or 1/4 cup eggbeater)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup applesauce
3/4 cup shredded carrots (about 3 decent-sized carrots)
2 apples, diced (optional)

Mix the dry ingredients together, mix in the butter and use a fork to squash the bits into smaller bits and coat with flour, then add in the honey, egg, vanilla, applesauce and stir into a dough.

Add optional orange/lemon zest if you wish, plus the shredded carrots and diced apples.

Add optional topping of cinnamon sugar, or prepare a separate frosting while it's baking.

Bake at 400 F for 24 minutes, depending on oven temperature.

Makes 12 jumbo-sized cupcakes, more or less.