WC Nov/Dec Recipe Exchange - Holiday Goodies

I was very excited to participate in this year's recipe exchange. I knew it would be the perfect opportunity to have someone choose what I make instead of me pouring over baking books for something good for the holidays.

I received a recipe for Carrot Cake and it was AMAZING! The cake was moist and not too sweet. All of my co-workers loved it. There wasn't one crumb left! And I got to use my bundt pan for the first time! I got a Williams Sonoma Anniversary bundt pan for our wedding and it worked wonderfully!

I did put the cake in my Weight Watchers recipe builder to see how many points it was and *gasp* 7 points per serving (one serving is 1/24th of the cake). I was able to tweak the recipe a little to get it down to 3 points with the same flavor.

Carrot Cake

• 2 cups sifted flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup grated zucchini
• 4 eggs
• 1 ½ cups canola oil
• 1 cup walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl and set aside. In blender, blend 1 cup carrots/zucchini with an egg and a half cup oil. Repeat twice adding nuts and extra egg during last blending. Combine with dry ingredients, mixing well. Pour into greased 10 in. tube pan. Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Cool and frost.

Frosting (I didn't make the frosting because I forgot to buy powdered sugar!)

• ½ cup butter at room temperature
• 1 (8oz) pkg. cream cheese at room temperature
• 1 (16oz) box powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Tips: I use the grater attachment on the food processor to grate the carrots and zucchini. Much easier! You can also make these as cupcakes, shortening the baking time accordingly.

Now for the Weight Watchers version:

• 1 cup Egg Beaters Egg Beaters
• 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp table salt
• 1 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 cup carrot(s), shredded
• 1 cup zucchini, shredded
• 1 cup walnut halves
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 cup sugar
• 2 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

Follow the same instructions as below. I didn't calculate the points for the frosting and would omit it if making it again for myself. If I made it again for the office I'd drizzle it lightly over the top.