Carrot Cake Muffins (Gluten Free)

For Ellie's 1st birthday, I made these little muffins.  I was not thrilled with the idea of giving her a ton of sugar and processed junk, so I thought I'd do something more healthy.  But healthy doesn't have to mean boring.  These are anything but boring.  They are moist, flavourful, and delicious.  And Ellie loved them. I made another batch today for Bible study, but since they were fresh out of the oven, so I didn't have time to frost them, and they were really good without the frosting too!   Definitely a new family favourite!



Carrot Cake Muffins with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
Ingredients:

not sure what to do with the candle!

¼ c Coconut Flour
¼ tsp Baking Soda
¼ tsp Salt
2 tsp Cinnamon
½ tsp Nutmeg
5 Tbsp melted Coconut Oil (or other oil of choice)
3 room temperature Eggs
5 Tbsp Honey
2 tsp Grated Ginger (or you can use pre-grated tubed ginger)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 c lightly packed very finely grated Carrots
¼ c dried grated Coconut (toasted or raw)
¼ cups Currants or chopped Raisins

For the frosting:
1 pkg lite cream cheese (its smoother than the original), softened
maple syrup to taste (approx 1/4 c.)
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Recipe makes 24 mini muffins.
Set your eggs aside to come to room temperature. The quick method would be to place eggs in a warm water bath for 3 minutes. Be sure to dry the eggs off before you crack them.
Mix together the coconut flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into a medium sized bowl. Sift or use a fork to break up all lumps in the coconut flour mixture. Set aside.
In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, room temperature eggs (it’s very important that they are room temperature, or the coconut oil will harden), honey/sugar, ginger and vanilla extract. Whisk till well blended.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet, again using a wire whisk or mixer. Mix well so that there are no lumps in the batter. It will look a bit like melted caramel.
Fold in the carrots, grated coconut and the currants.
Spoon a tablespoon of batter into each mini muffin cup.
Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes depending on your oven. Just don’t over bake or they’ll get dry.
Cool the cupcakes.

For the frosting:
Soften the cream cheese, mix in mixer with wire whisk attachment until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and maple syrup.  (I didn't measure, just poured the syrup, until the cream cheese tasted sweet enough).  Mix well.  Separate into 3 bowls (if decorating with carrots), 1 with most, 2 others with a small amount each.  Add a few drops of green to one small bowl, and a few drops of yellow and red to the other, mix until the colour is to your liking.  Frost the muffins with white frosting.  Put orange frosting into piping bag with very fine tip, or put into sandwich bag and snip a TINY corner off with scissors.  Pipe the carrots, then repeat with the green for the tops. 

Enjoy!

Creamy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

There's something about this time of year up here, when Fall quietly begins to change her tune, and you wake up one morning and realize that its on the verge of Winter.  Something about this time of year, when the rain is perpetual, and the sky is gray, and the temperature outside makes you shiver, that makes me want to make soup.  I love this time of year, it's Soup Season!  This year, my goal is to try to make a different soup every time, and I'm striving to capitalize on the bounty of Autumn with my flavours.  Tonight's dinner is brought to you by the humble Butternut Squash.  Most of its life in my kitchen has been in the form of 'slice it in half, butter the cut sides, roast until soft, eat out of the skin' -- not much variety.  So tonight, I took inspiration from my mom, and branched out.  It is a simple soup, but in its simplicity, there is a richness and complexity of flavours. 

Creamy Roasted Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients:
2 small butternut squashes, seeded, peeled and cut into 1" pieces
1 large sweet onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
1/2 pint (1 cup) heavy whipping cream (or milk)
salt & pepper to taste
6 slices of bacon, cooked to crispy, then chopped -OR-
     bacon bits

Directions:
Squash Prep -- Cut off the both ends, then slice squash in half long ways.  Spoon out seeds. Peel with potato peeler.  Dice into 1" pieces.
Place in 9x13 casserole dish with onions and garlic.  Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper, mix to coat.
Bake at 425 for about 20-30 minutes, stirring at least twice, until squash and onions are very tender.
Meanwhile, warm broth in large soup pot over low heat until squash mixture is done.
Add squash mixture to broth, increase heat, and bring to boil.  Reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.  Use an immersion blender to puree the soup.  Once all the chunks have been pureed, blend in cream. (If you do not have an immersion blender, you can use a regular blender, but do it in small batches.  Be very careful, as the hot liquid will release hot steam when the blender is first turned on.  Hold the lid on with a towel to avoid a mess, and potential injury.  Blend in a little cream with each batch, to help cool it a bit.) 
Increase heat to medium, bring back to almost a boil.
Serve hot, with crumbled bacon on top.
Warm crusty French bread goes very well with this soup!