Podcast 77: Halloween Cupcakes and Scary Food Stories

by The Meal Makeover Moms on October 21st, 2009

We made a true confession this week on our Cooking with the Moms podcast show: The Meal Makeover Moms are not perfect!  In fact, over the years, we’ve cooked up some pretty scary recipes.

We’ve been obsessed for quite some time now with lemon squares. Why, you ask?  Well, a while back, we received an email from one our readers asking if we could give her sugar- and butter-laden recipe a healthy makeover. We love a challenge, so after a good brainstorm over a cup of tea, we concocted a new recipe made in muffin tins with lemon yogurt, lemon juice, sugar, gelatin and Nilla Wafers for the ”crust.”  We thought it was a brilliant idea, but as you can see, the Nilla Wafers floated to the top and our dessert looked like little raw eggs. Yuck.  To say they were unattractive would be an understatement, though believe it or not, they tasted pretty darn good. Let’s just say we’re still tweaking the recipe.

Carrot Cupcakes

To make up for our past recipe failures, we featured a fabulous recipe for Carrot Camouflage Cupcakes on the show – perfect for your little ghosts and goblins this Halloween. Our recipe makes 12 cupcakes, but we suspect you could use a mini muffin tin if you prefer 24 bite-size muffins instead (just bake for about 15 minutes versus 20).

Carrot Camouflage Cupcakes
Makes 12 Cupcakes

Cupcakes, like any cake, are typically made with butter or margarine, but ours are made with canola oil to keep the unhealthy saturated fat in check.  We also use some whole wheat flour for added fiber.

  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar (you can up this to 1 cup for a slightly sweeter cupcake)
  • 1/2 cup canola oil
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1/4 cup 1% lowfat milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 ¼ cups finely grated carrots (about 8 ounces carrots)
  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 ounces light cream cheese
  • 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup, optional

1.  Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners and set aside.

2.  Beat the sugar, oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla at medium speed of a mixer until well blended, about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary.  Mix in the carrots.

3.  Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.  At low speed, gradually beat in the flour mixture until just combined.

4.  Spoon the batter evenly into the muffin cups.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool for 5 minutes.  Remove the cupcakes and cool completely before frosting.

5.  To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and maple syrup as desired at low speed until blended (you can raise the speed to medium once the sugar is incorporated). Spread the frosting over the cupcakes; garnish with a jelly bean, an M&M, sprinkles or nothing at all!

Tip:  For a non cream cheese based frosting, whisk together 1 cup confectioners’ sugar and 1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice or 1 ½ tablespoons 1% lowfat milk.

Nutrition Information per Serving (1 cupcake):  260 calories, 12g fat (2g saturated, 1g omega-3), 170mg sodium, 36g carbohydrate, 1.5g fiber, 4g protein, 40% vitamin A

Have a goulishly gooey and fun Halloween. For additional tips for making it a little less sugary, check out our Halloween Tip Sheet. And to see more of our scary food faux pas, visit our flickr page.

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2 Comments | Filed Under Desserts, Podcast 

2 Responses to “Podcast 77: Halloween Cupcakes and Scary Food Stories”

  1. EatingRD on October 22nd, 2009

    those lemon nilla wafer cupcakes sound so good! I love nilla wafers and I’ve especially been craving them in banana pudding :)
    Those cupcakes sound wonderful too!

  2. Renata on November 1st, 2009

    You can always make the egg-looking lemon bars an April Fool’s Day treat!

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