The Cottage Kitchen

Carrot Cupcakes: The Cottage Kitchen

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Today is for my husband.  Carrot cake has been his favourite dessert for a very long time now, and I’m hoping that these little cupcakes will meet with his approval.  I debated making a whole cake but this way I can give some of them away (if hubby lets me :), and it’s better for our waistlines if we’re not tempted by a whole cake calling for us from the kitchen for days :o)

Carrot Cupcakes
makes 12

1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup sugar
⅓ cup vegetable oil
2 Tbs fresh orange juice
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground allspice
½ tsp salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ cup shredded carrots
½ cup chopped walnuts

  • preheat the oven to 350 F. 
  • spread ½ cup of coconut out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and toast in the oven until golden brown, about 5 minutes.  Transfer the browned coconut to a small bowl and set aside to cool, for topping the cupcakes.
  • in a bowl, combine the sugar, oil, orange juice, vanilla and eggs.
  • stir in the baking powder, baking soda, allspice and salt.
  • add the flour and mix.  Stir in the shredded carrots, the walnuts and the remaining coconut.
  • line a 12 pan muffin tin with paper liners, and distribute the batter evenly between them.
  • bake for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.
  • let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting with the cream cheese icing (recipe below), and sprinkling with the reserved toasted coconut.

Cream Cheese Icing
8 oz block of cream cheese, at room temp
¾ cup icing sugar
¼ tsp vanilla extract

  • in a mixing bowl, whisk the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together until smooth.  Use immediately, or store in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

 it looks like a lot of ingredients, but well worth the effort.
toasted coconut is great sprinkled over breakfast cereal or ice cream or just about anything else really – it’s awesome!
you’ll want to combine things in a couple of stages, just to make sure everything’s mixed up completely.
make sure you scrape down the sides of the bowl to get everything mixed together.
this combination of carrots, walnuts and coconut is delicious.
evenly divide the batter between the 12 muffin tins.
let them cool completely before you frost them.
you can either pipe the icing onto the cupcakes, or as I did, spread it on with a small spatula.
finish with the toasted coconut on top.

Breakfast Tortilla Wraps: The Cottage Kitchen

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Another fairly lazy weekend morning – catching up on laundry, and emails, and generally pottering around the house while it rains outside.  We also had the hour clock change overnight so things were a little ‘out of sinc’ for me, hence breakfast didn’t get sorted out until well into brunch today – and what better food to indulge in but eggs and bacon, just in an easier to transport way, so that I could use up the last of the tortillas 🙂

Breakfast Tortilla Wraps
2 servings

3-4 tortillas
4 eggs
1 red pepper, chopped
4 green onions, chopped
4 rashers of bacon, chopped
splash of milk
¼ cup cheese, grated
dash of Tabasco sauce
salt and pepper

  • in a bowl mix together the eggs, cheese, milk, Tabasco and seasoning; set aside.
  • in a large skillet fry the bacon for a couple of minutes until starting to brown.
  • add the peppers and onions to the bacon and cook until bacon is just under your preferred doneness.
  • add the egg mixture to the skillet with the bacon, peppers and onions, and cook while stirring until eggs are set and scrambled.
  • divide the egg mixture between the tortillas and roll up, tucking in the ends.
  • return the tortilla wraps to the hot skillet and heat on both sides for a couple of minutes to warm through.

 mmmm…..bacon……
 chop the vegetables fairly finely.
I always find it easier to cut the bacon with scissors straight into the pan.
I like the peppers to still have a little crunch to them, so they’re not cooked for very long.
this is when I nearly changed my mind and just went with a straight omelette 🙂
my rolling and folding needs a little practice.
you can even prepare these in advance and reheat in the microwave.

Bread Stuffing: The Cottage Kitchen

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I had a real hankering for something savoury and stodgy today, and after searching through the fridge and pantry I decided on….stuffing.  Now, I’m probably like quite a few other people in the world, who only really make stuffing on certain holidays of the year, and I don’t understand why.  It’s easy, it’s simple ingredients, and above all, it’s delicious.  Honestly I could of probably just sat and ate the whole dish by itself, but figuring I needed to feed hubby as well when he got home I decided to add a thick layer of it on a hot turkey sandwich – YUMMY!!! 
(A big ‘thank you’ to my friend Ann for giving me this recipe after she served it to us at Thanksgiving dinner this year – the only change I made was to add the garlic powder.  I have a bit of an addiction to it – it goes in as many things as I can get away with 🙂

Bread Stuffing
enough to pack a 9×13 inch dish or stuff a 15 pound bird

1 medium onion, chopped
3-4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 loaf of cheap or stale bread, cubed
2 Tbs powdered/crushed sage leaves
1 ½ Tbs poultry seasoning
1 Tbs garlic powder
salt & pepper
1 cup butter, melted
½ cup milk

  • in a large pan or skillet saute the onions and celery until softened.
  • add the cubed bread, sage, poultry seasoning and garlic powder.  Stir a little to combine,
  • pour over the butter and milk and mix until the dressing is moist.  Taste and season with salt and pepper.
  • add any additional milk or seasoning until it tastes as you want.
  • either stuff your chosen bird, or press it into a 9×13 inch dish.  If you want a slightly crunchy topping pop the dish in a 400 F oven for 15-20 minutes.

 cheap bread works just great for this stuffing.
I like the onion and celery chopped fairly fine.
keep the crusts on the bread, they add a nice bit of texture.
I don’t put any oil in the pan to saute the vegetables, just dry-fry them on a medium heat until their slightly softened.
try not to eat it all as you stand at the stove 🙂
press it firmly into the dish and bake until slightly crispy.

Watermelon Tomato Salad: The Cottage Kitchen

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This is a wonderful summer salad, but even though today is Halloween and the weather is cold and raining, it still works fabulously with the heartwarming butternut squash soup I made earlier.

Watermelon Tomato Salad

1 small seedless watermelon, cubed
12 cherry tomatoes, halved
1 small red onion, chopped
2 tsp parsley, chopped if fresh (I used dried)
1 Tbs lime juice

  • In a large bowl, combine the watermelon, tomato and onion.
  • sprinkle over the parsley and lime juice and toss to coat.
  • refrigerate until ready to serve.

I didn’t have any fresh limes, so I used bottled juice – worked great.
these small watermelons are so sweet – delicious.
mmmmm…..watermelon 🙂
I used red cherry tomatoes, but yellow grape would give a wonderful contrast too.
I didn’t have a small onion, so I only used half of a larger one.
this is also a great accompaniment with a salmon fillet.