Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Every year my mom throws herself a birthday party on Labor Day weekend. It's just the way it is. Of course we do all the cooking, setting up, and clean up. She requested carrot cake again this year. Since I am transitioning to all cupcakes, I turned it into carrot cake cupcakes. I was determined to make it from scratch this year. I really loathe the idea of shredding carrots, but I wanted to make something special for my mom. Luckily my aunt found a recipe in grandma's old cookbook that calls for carrot baby food. I happily jotted down the recipe and went to work. The original recipe called for a 1/2 cup of each of raisins, nuts, and maraschino cherries, but I omitted all three. They were delicious without and no one missed the fruit or nuts. They had a strong spice flavor with a hint of carrot. They were also super moist. I even converted a few family members with these that swore they didn't like carrot cake. I paired these with plain cream cheese icing, but I think cinnamon cream cheese would be awesome.

Carrot Cake Cupcakes
Source: adapted from my Grandma

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I added.)
dash of salt
2 (3.5 oz.) containers carrot baby food
1 cup oil (canola or vegetable)
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla (I added.)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line cupcake tins with 24 cupcake liners. 

Beat together sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla.

Add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir in carrots.

Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full and bake 17 - 20 minutes.