Carrot Cake Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Arrange both oven racks equal distance apart. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F and line two 12-cup muffin tins with cupcake liners. Set aside.

Finely chop three-quarters of the pecans and place in a skillet set over medium heat. Toast the chopped pecans, stirring frequently, until fragrant, but not overly brown. Remove from heat and set aside. (Reserve the remaining quarter cup of whole pecans for garnish).

Whisk together the eggs and vegetable oil in a large mixing bowl. Add the brown sugar, white sugar, molasses, applesauce, and vanilla extract and continue whisking until combined.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Stir to combine.

Gradually add some of the dry ingredients to the wet and whisk to combine. Repeat until all the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the batter.

Pour the toasted pecans to the batter and stir to combine.

Add the freshly grated carrots and carefully fold into the mixture until thoroughly incorporated into the batter.

Fill each cupcake liner with the batter until approximately three-quarters full, as shown. (Do not overfill). Place the muffin pans into the pre-heated oven for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (Rotate the muffin pans to the other rack halfway through baking). Remove from oven and transfer the cupcakes to wire racks to cool completely.

While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare the frosting by beating together the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and salt. Slowly add the powdered sugar a little at a time until thoroughly incorporated into the frosting. Set aside.

Once muffins are completely cool, frost with the cream cheese frosting and garnish with the remaining whole pecans, if desired, before serving. Enjoy!