Thursday, October 18, 2012

It's a cake!  It's a cookie! Oh hell, I'm lazy. It's a mini muffin.

My husband likes carrot cake.  It is probably in his top 10 desserts.  Yeah, I know. Ten sounds like a lot but we really like dessert.  Besides, it has carrots, it has to be good for you some how.  Like providing 25% of my daily fiber. I can lie to myself with the best of them.

I originally picked up this recipe on Pinterest (redundant I know, but it goes with the literary flow) which was posted and adapted by www.quickfeetgoodeats.com who adapted the recipe from www.pickycook.com who adapted the recipe from Martha Stewart.
Ingredients
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter – room temp
  • 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs – room temp
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats – not instant
  • 1 1/2 cup grated carrots – about 3 large carrots
  • 1 cup raisins – optional (i hate raisins so i omitted)
  • 1/2 cup toasted chopped walnuts
Directions
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, silpats, or simply spray with cooking spray.
In a mixer, beat butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 3 – 4 minutes in a stand mixer). Add eggs and vanilla and beat on medium until well combined.
Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger; whisk to combine. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture; mix on low until just combined. Do not overmix!
Mix in oats, carrots, raisins (if using) and walnuts. Chill dough for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Shape tablespoons of dough into balls and place on prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. I flattened mine a bit and sprinkled a bit of sugar on the tops before putting in the oven.
Bake until browned and crisp around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes (mine took 11 minutes so check early) rotating halfway through. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Here is the original adapted recipe.  Yeah I know, original and adapted is an oxymoron, but again, my blog, my choice of literary adaption.

I figured I should get on the "adapted" recipe train, so I "adapted" this recipe for my own purposes. OK.  I'm lying, I had no intention of "adapting" until I got part way through the directions and realized I didn't have enough sugar. I didn't want to brush my teeth or get out of my pajamas, but I really wanted cookies.  Cookie deprivation makes me creative. I had some date sugar in my pantry. My cookie need would be satiated.  Muahahahahaha!!!!


Did I mention I didn't have all the ingredients?  The recipe also called for 2 cups of rolled oats.  I only had 1 cup, but I did have a whole can of steel cut oats.



 What the hell, I had already made 1 substitution.  I knew from prior experiments that you can't just dump in the steel cut oats, they don't cook up and you get unpleasant little nuggets that stick under the caps in your teeth. That hurts, and your dentist buys another Porsche.  I don't like pain, or the fact that my dentist drives two Porsches so I "adapted" the oats.  I figured if I cooked the the steel cut oats it would do two things; add moisture to the mix, and prevent the nugget/cap/Porshe conundrum. I used 1/2 cup of steel cut oats and cooked them partially in the microwave.


While they cooled I creamed the butter, sugar and eggs.



I then dumped in the rest of the ingredients. I didn't sift. I dumped.  I was hungry, and still in my pajamas at four in the afternoor, which indicates a certain amount of laziness. I found dumping to be appropriate.


Doesn't look very appetizing in this form does it? 

Time to make the cookies. Only I didn't have any parchment paper, but I did have this handy dandy mini muffin pan I had not yet used, and I was still working out the justification for buying it to my husband. I find mini muffins to be the perfect justification for just about anything.

 
I got out my trusty mini disher and loaded up the muffin tin.
 


 
I ended up with tasty little nuggets (good nuggets, not bad nuggets).
 
 
 
Doesn't my homemade cake plate highlite them nicely?
 
I did make icing.  I swear I did.  I did not frost the mini muffins because cream cheese can go bad, and I didn't want to leave out frosted muffins.  What to do? The voracious velociraptor solved the problem.  I came around the corner and he was dipping the muffin in the frosting.  Dip!  Everybody loves dip, and fondue. Cream cheese fondue!  Brilliant!
 
Turns out the worry about left out frosted muffings was unfounded.  They didn't last long enough.
 
Enjoy, and feel free to leave a comment.