"Healthy" Carrot-Coconut-Pecan Cupcakes, 01/19

Ok I lied a little bit, and made these cupcakes for the 18th, but the 19th is a finals day and we don't have lunch. So these are for the WEEK of the 19th, ok??? So I tried a new recipe with new flavors, and one I had seen demonstrated on Paula Deen's show on the Food Network. These are carrot cupcakes with coconut and pecan, but because it's Paula Deen, let's face it, these are not the healthiest cupcakes in the world. And I'm not saying there is anything wrong with that--but at times I need something a little healthier. :) Since it is post-holiday, and people are all on the healthy kick for the moment, I "healthified" these cupcakes. So I used her recipe, but made a few key changes. First of all, I switched 1/2 of the flour to whole wheat. The eggs were replaced with Egg Beaters, and the oil replace with applesauce. I also only used half the sugar, and you really cannot tell. The rest remained the same, except I also toasted the pecans first (yummmmmmy). Maybe because of the substitutions, I only baked these for 20 minutes. Who knows. The frosting is my own cream cheese frosting, made with non fat cream cheese too keep it healthy-ish. The "carrot" on top is composed of a dried apricot, cut into a triangle, and although Paula Deen calls for a mint leaf to represent the stems on the carrots (which I think is SO CUTE), I was lazy and dyed some frosting green. Oh well. Then, with my leftover pecans, I rolled the edges and ta-da!!! Cute!!
These cupcakes came out very moist, rose to perfection, and were excellent with the chopped pecans! I would like to try to add crushed pineapple some time, or maybe golden raisins, but the basis of this cupcake was very good, a definite keeper (it earned a few "favorite" comments from the cupcake group), and one that could have many many additions and variations!