Peter Rabbit Carrot Cupcakes – Gluten Free

NOTES:
– You can purchase Gluten Free Oat Flour or make your own by taking 1 1/2 cups of Gluten Free Old Fashioned Rolled Oats and grinding them into a powder in a food processor.
– These are more muffins without the frosting and cupcakes with it. They are great topped with pillows of whipped cream or cream cheese frosting. I use them interchangeably. Or I enjoy them bare and unfrosted.

METHOD:
Roasted Carrots: Pre-heat oven to 400˚F with the rack in the middle. Clean, peel and slice carrots into chunky pieces about 1 inch long. Toss carrots with 1 tablespoon melted butter and a pinch of salt. Bake for about 20 minutes or until carrots are soft and lightly browned. Set aside. Measure out two half cup portions.

Cupcakes: Reduce oven temperature to 350˚F. Prepare a 12-count standard size muffin pan with liners.

Purée one of the half cups of the carrots in a blender with the milk. Finely dice the other 1/2 cup of the carrots and toss with 1 tablespoon of oat flour.

In a medium bowl combine the carrot purée, Greek yogurt, remaining butter, applesauce and egg. In another bowl whisk together dry ingredients (including the remaining 1 cup of oat flour). Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix together well. Gently fold in diced carrots. Taste batter to make sure it is sweetened to your liking. Scoop batter into muffin cups leaving a little room at the top. Bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a tooth pick comes our crumb free.

Frosting: Stir vanilla Stevia drops into whipped cream cheese. Sweeten to taste. Alternatively you can frost these cupcakes with whipped cream. If you do this, just whip cream in a stand mixer and sweeten to taste. Pipe onto cupcakes.