Muffin Sunday!

I have been loosely following The Volumetrics Weight-Control Plan by Barbara Rolls, Ph.D., and Robert A. Barnett to lose my weight and maintain it.  So for Muffin Sunday I made Carrot Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting (but didn't use the frosting).  The Herbal Husband likes plain jello!  I love him to bits, but come on plain jello reminds me of the hospital!  OK, here is the full recipe including the frosting part.  We had them plain this morning.  We used just plain CoolWhip when we had our tea this evening.  Yes, if you're counting we had a third one this evening!

Carrot Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting


1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple in unsweetened juice, undrained
1-1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/3 cup low-fat or fat-free buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/2 cups finely grated carrot
Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Drain pineapple in a wire mesh sieve, and press down on the pineapple to extract excess liquid.  Reserve the juice separately for the frosting.
Sift the cake flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into a large bowl.
Combine the egg, egg white, buttermilk, oil and vanilla and whisk until smooth.  Whisk in the sugar.
Add the egg-buttermilk mixture to the flour in the bowl, and whisk until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Fold in the carrot and reserved pineapple.
Spoon the batter evenly into paper-lined muffin pans. Bake 15-20 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Let the cupcakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes, and then remove them from the pans and cool completely on wire racks.
Spread 1 tablespoon pineapple cream cheese frosting on each cupcake or use a dollop of CoolWhip.

Yield:  12 cupcakes

Note:  After cupcakes are cooled, they may be sealed in heavy-duty reclosable plastic bags and frozen up to 1 month.  Refrigerate the cream cheese frosting.  To serve, thaw the desired number of individual cupcakes, let 1 tablespoon frosting for each cupcake soften, and frost.  (Really, we ate these so quickly, we didn't have to freeze them!)

Cream Cheese Frosting

2 ounces (1/4 cup) cold reduced-fat block cream cheese
1-3/4 cups powdered sugar, divided
1 tablespoon reserved pineapple juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place the cream cheese in a medium bowl.  Sift 1 cup of the sugar over the cream cheese with a fine wire mesh sieve, and work the sugar into cream cheese with a spatula.  Stir in the pineapple juice and vanilla, and work in the remaining sugar until spreadable and smooth.

Yield:  12 servings of 1 tablespoon each (about 3/4 cup).

Nutritional Information Per Cupcake with Frosting.  Calories:  220 (without the frosting 150+/-). Energy Density:  1.7.  Carbohydrate:  39g.  Fat:  6g.  Protein: 3 g. Fiber:  1 g. Sodium: 139 mg.

Hope you had a great day!  Has gotten cooler here if only temporary!  Talk to you later!