Carrot Cups

The last of this year’s Passover recipes, these carrot cups from Epicurious (which can be found here) have been an item at our holiday dinners for years. Now, you may be wondering what a carrot cup is…

It’s a cup full of carrots!

Just kidding. Carrot cups are sort of like carrot muffins, without being cakey. Did that make any sense? Probably not. You see, they’re these carroty orangey things baked in muffin tins and are apparently very hard to explain. Maybe a picture will help you to understand:

See? They’re like kinda-sorta-muffins. Like carrot-y baked… thingies! Oh, just ignore me. I’d better give you the recipe before I confuse you more.

Makes 12 carrot cups

Ingredients:

1/3 cup unsalted butter or margarine, melted and cooled (you’ll need some additional for greasing, too)

2 lb peeled carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks

1/4 cup matzoh cake meal

1/4 cup potato starch

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs, separated

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

To start out, you’ll want to preheat your oven to 350 F and grease a muffin tin. Then, boil the carrots in salted water, uncovered, until very tender (approx. 15-20 minutes).

Drain the carrots and purée them in a food processor until smooth.

In a small bowl, combine matzoh cake meal, potato starch, and salt.

Now for the eggs. And no, you will not be using this many.

In the bowl of an electric mixer (or just a large bowl if you’re using hand mixers like me), throw in the egg yolks, sugar, orange zest, and vanilla.

On high speed, mix these until thick and pale in color.

Now add in the dry mixture and reduce speed to low, mixing just until combined.

Grab those puréed carrots you set aside, along with the melted butter/margarine, and add to the mixture, again mixing just until combined. Set this aside and turn your attention to the egg whites.

Beat the whites in a large bowl until they just start to form stiff peaks.

Hey, egg whites are kind of fun to take pictures of! They’re just so… swirly.

I’ll stop now.

Take your carrot mixture and carefully fold in the whites, working with 1/3 of the eggs at a time.

Once you’ve folded thoroughly, go ahead and take a spoon (or scoop)…

And fill the muffin cups!

Keep doing this until you’ve distributed the batter evenly amongst the 12 cups.

You’re ready to pop these guys in the oven! Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the cups are browned on the edges. Here’s a photo of the finished product one more time for you:

That’s about it! Here’s the shortened, more printer-friendly version:

Carrot Cups

From crumbsandnibbles.com, originally from epicurious.com

Makes 12 carrot cups

Ingredients:

1/3 cup unsalted butter or margarine, melted and cooled (you’ll need some additional for greasing, too)

2 lb peeled carrots, cut into 1-inch chunks

1/4 cup matzoh cake meal

1/4 cup potato starch

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 eggs, separated

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 350 F. Grease a muffin tin.

2. In an uncovered saucepan, boil carrots in salted water until very tender (approx. 15-20 minutes).

3. Drain carrots and purée until smooth.

4. In a small bowl, combine matzoh cake meal, potato starch, and salt. Set aside.

5. In the bowl of an electric mixer (or just a large bowl if you’re using hand mixers like me), beat egg yolks, sugar, orange zest, and vanilla on high speed until thick and pale in color.

6. Add in the dry mixture and reduce speed to low, mixing just until combined.

7. Add the carrots and melted butter/margarine to the mixture, again mixing just until combined. Set this aside.

8. In a separate large bowl, beat the egg whites until they just start to form stiff peaks.

9. Take your carrot mixture and carefully (but thoroughly) fold in the whites, working with 1/3 of the eggs at a time.

10. Using a spoon or scoop, fill the muffin tins until you’ve distributed the batter evenly amongst the 12 cups.

11. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the cups are browned on the edges. Cool on a wire rack.

Yum yum. I hope you all enjoy this recipe. Happy nibbling!