My  Last First.

My  littlest one  had her  first birthday on Thursday.  Amidst  the craziness of going  back  to  work and  juggling  work  schedules  her  birthday  sort of  snuck  up on us.  I was  partially ignoring it too because it  marks  the  end of  baby  days for  me and  it  makes  me so  sad but that’s a  story for another day!

I  have been  trying to  keep  sugar away  from  my  kids as  much as possible.  Especially  because they  seem to  be  bombarded with it  on a  daily  basis.  In an attempt  to  keep as much  sugar as possible out of  her  little one year old  self,  I  played around with a  recipe  from my husband’s family  cookbook and  it  turned out   really  well.   It  was  loaded  with  fruit and  veggies (yes veggies in a  cupcake), and very little sweetener.  Lots of texture and  flavour too. I  call it a  cupcake.  A baby friendly  cupcake.  I have  gotten some  flack about  suggesting  that a cupcake  can  have veggies in it  but I maintain it’s a  cupcake.  It  did have  frosting after all!

Here’s the recipe:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp baking soda

2 tsp Cinnamon

½ cup blue agave syrup ( you  can  definitely  get away  with even  less)

1 can  (14 oz) crushed pineapple

½ cup safflower oil

4 eggs

¾ cup finely  chopped dates

2 cups raw grated carrots

In  a  medium bowl mix together all of  your dry ingredients.  In a  large  bowl  mix together all of  your wet ingredients including the pineapple and dates.  Add the  dry ingredients and  stir until  just mixed. Scoop into  cupcake liners and  bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.

So yeah, some  might  say  muffin. I  say baby friendly  cupcake.  Awesome for those of you doing baby led  weaning or for those of  you who are  just trying to  keep the sugar away  from  your little ones.

And  yes,  I did  say  frosting.  This  is a  bit of a cheat. I follow a  Fan-flipping-tastic blog called Chocolate covered Katie.  She   creates the   most amazing  healthy desserts  with a  focus on healthy ingredients and  tons  of vegan options and different  options for  sweetners.   A few weeks ago  she  came  up  with a “Frosting Shot” I   adjusted it  because I  didn’t  want  chocolate  and  this  is what I  came up with:

2 cans of  coconut milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbs icing sugar (yes it’s sugar but 2 tablespoons  for  24 cupcakes  is still quite minimal and  if  you  really  don’t  want to  use it  you  don’t  have to.  It  will still turn out)

Scoop the  thick  parts of the  coconut milk into a  bowl and  refrigerate overnight. The  next day  beat together the    T-H-I-C-K  coconut  milk,  vanilla and  sugar until blended. I  put  mine into a  piping  bag and  back in the fridge  for a  bit to  make sure it  was firm for piping. Pipe  or  spread onto  your cupcakes and  refrigerate until ready to  serve.

Enjoy! Camryn did!