Carrot Cupcakes

By scrapbookmom

Ingredients

• Cupcakes
• 1 cup pecans
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 pound carrots coarsely grated about 2 cups
• Frosting
• 8 ounces of cream cheese at room temp
• 4 TBSP unsalted butter at room temp
• 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 1/2 cups of confectioners sugar

Preparation

Step 1

To make cupcakes:
heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread the pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in oven tossing once until fragrant 6-8 minutes. Let cool, then roughly chop.
Line a standard 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg in a large bowl. set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, oil and egg, fold in the carrots and 1/2 cup of pecans. Add the carrot mixture to the flour mixture and mix until just combined and evenly moistened.
Divide the batter among the muffin cups and bake rotating once. until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cupcake comes out clean. About 20 - 25 minutes. Let cool slightly in the tin, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
To Make the Frosting
Beat the cream cheese, butter, vanilla and salt with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually beat in the confectioners' sugar, beating until smooth. Refrigerate the frosting until slightly stiffened about 20-30 minutes. Frost the cupcakes dividing the frosting evenly and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of pecans.