Juicer Pulp Carrot Apple Ginger Snack Cakes

As I mentioned in my Pork Chops with Apple Pan Sauce post, we have a new juicer, which I have been having tons of fun playing with. I was, however, having tons of guilt just throwing away the extracted pulp. Mom always said all the vitamins and other REAL goodies are in the outer areas of fruit and vegetables, so I knew I had to do something with this stuff rather than dump it down the disposal. After a bit of internetting for ideas, I made these...

Aren't they adorable?

These moist, tasty little buggers are low fat, high fiber, egg-free, and highly addictive. You can eat them with relative abandon and still feel pretty good about it.

First of all, to make these you need a juicer. That's pretty much the only way to get the pulp you will need. I thought about possibly suggesting you just grate the carrots, apples, and ginger, but that would leave too much moisture in the fruit/vegetable mixture and the cakes just wouldn't bake right. 

Before mixing the batter, make your pulp. Wash and prep about 6-8 medium carrots, 2-3 large apples (cored but not peeled), and 3-4 nice big hunks of fresh ginger (peeled). I happen to adore ginger, so the amount you use should be according to your own tastes. Run everything through your juicer according to its directions. Drink the juice while you're baking these or reserve for later. You will need 2 cups of the mixed pulp. Pick out any really large pieces of apple peel, but don't worry if there are some hunks of apple and carrot in there... they add a really nice flavor and texture to the finished product.

Now, we are ready to start the actual cakes...

1½ C flour

2 t baking powder

1½ t cinnamon

¼ C sugar

½ t salt

1¼ C milk

¼ C vegetable oil

1½ t vanilla extract

2 C carrot/apple/ginger pulp

Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and sugar. Stir well with a whisk or a fork.

In a smaller bowl, whisk together oil, milk and vanilla. Pour wet ingredients into the dry and gently combine, being careful not to over mix (there will be lumps... don't worry). Gently fold in the pulp, being careful to mix thoroughly but not too much.

Scoop batter into muffin tins. Unlike muffins, these do not rise very much, so don't worry about over-filling. Fill the tins almost to the top. Bake for 18-22 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely. Refrigerate any leftovers (like that will happen).

Makes 24 cakes.