Carrot Cake Cupcakes

Tim and I have both had the same make car for the last umpteen years. I am a creature of habit. These two things did not work in my favor when I drove my mother’s car the other day. Just backing out of the driveway was an adventure.

First of all, our gear shift is on the steering wheel. Hers is not. By the time I was headed down the street, I had managed to indicate a left turn, a right turn, washed the windows, changed the oil, put air in the tires and rebuilt the transmission. And the fun didn’t stop there.

Trying to adjust the air/heat, meant blasting the radio which would have been fine if it had been broadway showtimes (okay, so maybe not so fine for anyone else in the world, but I would totally have been rocking out to Oklahoma!), but it somehow mysteriously changed to a channel that was playing someone I am A. too old to know, B. too old to want to know and C. would probably send the artist into an existential crisis if they even thought someone my age was listening to them.

Attempting to change the radio station was futile since all of the presets were set to the same station, something I know my mother did not do. She is more of a Frank Sinatra girl than a Jay-Z kind of girl. And I was actually afraid to even try to figure out how to program a new station in, since with my luck, I would hit the seat ejector button instead and end with firefighters rescuing me from a tree.

The good news is that by the time I returned home, I had figured out a system of sorts: to turn the heat up, I tried to place a call, to turn the air up and heat down, I put the car into park, and to mute the radio, I turned the windshield wipers on and popped the trunk release.

I can also never, ever switch makes of car ever ever again.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups spelt flour (sifted)
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup monkfruit (or sugar)
2 1/2 cups grated carrots, well packed (use the small side of the grater)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup coconut oil (the liquid kind)
1 cup applesauce
1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350
In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients (flour through sugar). In a small bowl, combine the carrots, maple syrup, coconut oil, applesauce and apple cider vinegar.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
Scoop into lined muffin tins (I use an ice cream scooper so they are all the same size) and bake for 20-25 minutes or till toothpick inserted comes out dry. Makes 18 cupcakes.

Cream cheese frosting: