It's a Retro Thanksgiving Cupcakes!

Thanksgiving always makes me long for home. My world growing up was decorated with laughter and deliciousness.  On Thanksgiving no matter how poor we were or what life was throwing our way my house was overflowing in the smell of home cooked food and sweet honey and sugar. The cooking began three days before and continued all day into Thanksgiving. On Sunday I get to meet my Boyfriends Parents for the first time and I am super exited about that. My Hero Ryan was born in 1978 and I was born 1979. He talks often about his Parents and how much he loved growing up in Yankee Michigan. I often wonder what my parents Thanksgivings were like when they were kids. I would give anything to be able to see my Parents for just one day when they were children. To see them laugh without the worry of bills. To see them smile with out the cares of world on their shoulders. That got me inspired. Instead of the traditional I would go RETRO! Since almost everyone will have a pumpkin something of some kind already (and thank goodness they will I adore pumpkin everything) I decided to make carrot cake cupcakes and paint them orange. Not the traditional orange but he orange of the couches I see in all my parents photos when they were children. These are for great Parents and amazing Holidays.

Everyone get out your Martha Stewart Cupcakes: 175
Inspired Ideas for everyone’s favorite treat .

Turn to page 25 and we are going to use her carrot cupcake recipe as our base. (Because really who does it better then Martha?)

Instructions:

1 pound carrots, peeled and finely grated

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup buttermilk

2 cup sugar

11/2 cups vegetable oil

1 vanilla bean, halved length wise, seeds scraped and reserved

(or 11/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract)

½ cup golden raisins

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Cream Cheese Frosting

1.     Preheat oven to 325deg. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners.

Whisk together carrots, eggs, buttermilk, sugar, oil, vanilla-bean seeds, and raisins.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Stir flour mixture into carrot mixture until well combined.

2.     Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each three-quarter full. Bake,

Rotating tins halfway through, until a cake tester inserted in centers comes out clean, 23 to 28 minutes. Remove and let cool on cooling rack 10 minutes.

(My side notes: I am a cook book junkie as you know and here are the alterations I used for this recipe: I used the vanilla extract because really vanilla bean halving is for people who don’t work full time for a living and raise a disable daughter). I skipped the raisins because there are many people who don’t like raisins (I love them as a side note) and added dried cranberries instead. I also sipped the cloves because I am just really not a clove fan. Everything else was spot on.





First we make our cream cheese vanilla frosting and break out the orange gel dye!

  




Letting our Carrot Cupcakes cool for some

Retro dress up!

  



Lava Lamp Cupcake

  
 



Lava Lamp Cupcake
All Dolled Up for Dinner

   




Pie Cupcake

  




Pie Cupcake all Dolled up

 






Grandmother Cupcake

  



Grandmother Cupcake
All Dolled Up

 





Time for Dinner Cupcake

  




Time for Dinner Cupcake
All Dolled Up

 





All we need is Love Cupcake

 





All We Need is Love Cupcake

All Dolled Up

I hope you and your family have a wonderful Holiday season and remember if you have children
let them see the joy in Holidays not the Hassles. They will cherish those memories for life.