Ingredients:
· 3/4 cup of whole-wheat pastry flour
· 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
· 1 teaspoon of baking soda
· 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
· 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
· A pinch of nutmeg
· 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
· 1/4 cup canola oil
· 2 large eggs
· 1 1/2 cup of finely shredded carrots
· 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
· 1/2 cup teaspoon finely chopped walnuts
· 4 ounces of low fat cream cheese
· 3/4 cup of confectioner's sugar(sifted)
· 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 350
degrees. Then line twelve standard
muffin cups with paper cupcake liners. Sift together ¾ a cup of whole-wheat
pastry flour, ½ cup of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, and 1
pinch of nutmeg.
My Mamaw and I always got
flour on our shirts. Every time it would land on one of our shirts you would
hear us yell out from either side of the kitchen.
“Oh dang!!”
And then from the other
side of the room you would hear a fit of laughter. We never came out of that
kitchen clean.
In a large stand mixer combined
¾ cup of firmly packed light brown sugar, ¼ cup of canola oil, and 2 large eggs.
Then mix them together.
I could never measure the
brown sugar right. It was a simple task, but one I had a hard time with. I
either put too much or too little. In the end I recall my grandma saying.
“It’s always better to
have more than to have less.” I would reply “Yes ma’am.”
Add 1 ½ cup of finely
shredded carrots, ½ teaspoon of vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and
mix until well combined and stir in ¼ cup of walnuts.
My Mamaw loves absolutely
loves walnuts. I could look over, and see her eating a bit of walnut.
“Mamaw! You can’t do
that!” I would fuss at her. “Yes, I can! And I will!” She would answer laughing
at me.
In the end I would always
laugh too. That’s what I love about her. I could never be mad even if I tried.
I always had a smile on my face when she was around. My grandma is my favorite
person in the world next to my mom, of course. She could never disappoint me
even if she tried.
Divide the batter evenly
in the muffin cups. With an electric mixer beat 4 ounces of low fat cream
cheese, ¾ cup of confectioner’s sugar, and ½ teaspoon of lemon zest.
This is when I would get
in trouble.
“Bailey Marie you better
not lick that spoon.” She would say without turning around.
“How’d you know?” I would
ask.
“Don’t you know mother’s
have eyes in the back of their heads.”
My face would turn beat red, and my eyes would
go wide. She would laugh at the color of my face.
“Just wait until we’re
done.”
Put the muffins in the
oven for twenty minutes. Once done let them sit for about five minutes.
I remember those five
minutes being the longest five minutes in the world. If only that was it now.
Now for example: sending a text message to someone you really like. Those few
minutes it takes for them to reply now are the long eternity that those simple
five minutes used to be. I wish I could
go back to the time where we would sit and talk in that kitchen the whole time.
I never had very much fun cooking regular foods, but those forty minutes I
spent with my grandma in the kitchen was the best time I ever had in a kitchen.
