As a doctor, I understand your phobias. I even have some of my own.
I have a fear of rabbits.
Now, it didn’t help that my childhood friend’s family (yup, the same ones from the graveyard story) had an evil possessed rabbit. And yes, many of you might say that rabbits can’t be evil and possessed. I guarantee this one was. He tried hopping after and sinking his long rabbit teeth into anyone that got near him. On one particular occasion, he even chomped down on her brother’s cheek, wouldn’t let go while the kid went running around the house screaming (can you IMAGINE being a small child running with a rabbit hanging off your head) and literally had to be knocked out so they could detach him.
So, needless to say, I already had a baseline fear of rabbits.
When I was in second grade, my parents took my family to the petting zoo. We normally went to the regular zoo (we never went to the Detroit Zoo, but always went to the Toledo Zoo instead, especially at Christmas!). However, this was my first time at a petting zoo, and I was determined to try to conquer my fear of rabbits.
It was not meant to be.
I was calmly petting the rabbit, attempting to overcome my fears, when all of a sudden he whipped his little head around.
The rabbit bit through my middle finger. As in, you could look at my finger from the side, and see straight THROUGH my finger to the other side. It was like those pinhole cameras you made as kids, except this was my FINGER we were talking about.
Surprisingly, I walked calmly over to my parents, showed them the damage the rabbit had done, and then promptly burst into tears (it HURTS when a bunny bites through your finger!!!).
To this day, I still give rabbits a wide berth whenever I spot one, just in case they become tempted to hop up and bite me.
Rabbit Proof Gluten Free Carrot Cupcakes
the only thing I have in common with those wrascally wrabbits…a love of carrots
Ingredients
- 1 lb carrots, shredded (use that food processor!)
- 1 overly ripe banana
- 1/8 c vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 1/4 heaping cup packed brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 3/4 c rice flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 c dried cranberries
- 1/2 c golden raisins
- 1/4 c pepitas (roasted pumpkin seeds)
How-to
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Shred carrots. I normally toss them into a food processor and just pulse.
- In a mixing bowl or a stand mixer, beat together the banana, oil, egg, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add carrots.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the rice flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ginger, and cinnamon into the ingredients are evenly distributed. Stir in the cranberries, raisins, and pepitas into the flour mixture (this will prevent them from sinking in the cupcakes).
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until incorporated.
- Evenly distribute mixture into 12 muffin lined muffin cups (those are pretty moist as the final product, so you’re going to need those liners!).
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Serve alone or with my goat cheese frosting (recipe to follow!).
P.S. These are quite healthy and great for breakfast, too!
domestic diva, M.D. 
Did you ever see the killer rabbit in the movie Monty Python’s Quest for the Holy Grail?
Yup…not a fan hahaha
These sound delicious! Think I could use regular flour if not trying to make them GF?
Does it make me a bad person that your story about the rabbit hanging off that poor boy’s face made me laugh so hard I ha to wipe away tears?
You can easily use regular flour- I normally make them with that if I’m not feeding anyone with celiac disease.
It does not make you a bad person. Promise. Try working in health care. 😉
My niece fears whales, Me Grey Aliens.
My other big phobia is my next post…stay tuned!
And don’t some people call whales grey alians? 😉
oooh, thanks for the gluten free treat. I may just try it tonight–I have all the ingredients. Oh, and sorry about the rabbits. I had a similar experience as a kid being mauled by a neighbors dog. I’m the only one in my family now allergic to dogs–think there’s a connection?
My med student a few months ago had celiac disease, so I had to try to adjust a few of my recipes so she could eat them!
Aww I don’t think being mauled by a dog would cause your allergy at all, but at least the allergy is a good excuse to stay away.
Everyone knows rabbits are dangerous killers. Thank god someone finally had the strength of spirit to say it out loud! (or at least in print) 😉
I did say that phobias are irrational, right? 😉
Take revenge: make rabbit stew!
That would be the perfect revenge.
Love the recipe and will definitely try it at a later date.
My husband decided that our daughter for her 5th birthday (she”s now 26), should have rabbits. Not one rabbit but two damned rabbits. They came in a huge hutch and I mean huge. We hid them in the playroom in the garden and on the morning of her birthday brought the hutch into the house. On seeing rabbits, daughter squealed with delight, rushed to the hutch and before anyone could say ‘Bob’s your uncle’ took the huge white albino with pink eyes, later to be known as Thumper, out of said hutch. Not the gentle, silky brown lop eared Dutch bunny later known as Mopsy but the damn white one. It bit her instantly, she screamed, dropped him and that was that. Later we had to move the run from the garden into the garage as they attracted foxes. Cut a long story short, Thumper killed Mopsy, Mopsy was buried in the garden, Thumper was a brute, no one loved him and we gave him away when we left London and came here!
Rabbits are good for one thing – stew!.
See? Maybe it’s not a phobia then…seems like I have a fairly rational fear. 😉
Funnily enough, I have a phobia about carrot cake – if that’s possible.
Never heard of that one 😉
Personally I see no point to rabbits unless they’re on my plate. Not only are they the most boring pet ever, but – as you said – they can be unpredictable and nasty. My phobias are of heights (rational, I think), spiders (seriously irrational and one that I’m trying to overcome) and wasps (because I used to have very long hair and most years I’d find out the hard way that a wasp was hiding in it). I was also afraid of dogs for years after a friend’s German Shepherd attacked me, but the Staffie at the guest house we stay in when I visit my son – plus a friend’s Rottweiller (who is sadly no longer with us) – completely cured me!
I haven’t made a carrot cake for years – this now needs to be rectified 🙂
Bunnies are vicious! And I can’t eat bunny — I can eat tripe but can’t eat bunny, it makes me squirm. Now I know why!
I’ve never attempted tripe…
Did you say carrots!? This recipe looks divine, love the gluten-freeness of it! Also love your posts. Thanks DD.
I had a med student with celiac, so I had to switch things up a bit!
Love the rabbit proof carrot cupcakes!
Eeek! I personally am afraid of horses – they have big teeth. But I do love me some carrot cake. Thanks for a good recipe!
I have a good horse story I’ll have to tell one of these times
Never ever stand behind a horse no matter how good a rider you are!
Haha I know that from 8 years of riding western
I eagerly await! 🙂
I didn’t realize rabbits bit people, wow I am shocked I guess they start from the wild, it just never occurred to me. I had a pet rabbit growing up he was the sweetest thing.
They can be quite vicious little creatures.
I agree.. Bunnies can be temperamental and vicious. I have my share of “damages” from my own bunnies when my girls used to raise ’em for 4H projects. Glad those days are over…no matter how I love to spin their furs.
Carrot cakes are my all-time favorite treat but never thought of pepitas. What a great, healthy idea! Thanks for another terrific recipe. 😀
I ended up trying it since my one medical student had a gluten allergy and the other one had a nut allergy- rice flour and pepitas were the only way to go!
OUCH! I always have a bit of hesitation when I’m petting rabbits, but I love them so much that I can resist! I once got nipped at a pet store, but I couldn’t blame the bunny – always handled by strangers…I bought him, took him home and he never bit me again, only licked my nose!
Ugh, petting zoos. I have a lifelong fear of goats because of my experience in a petting zoo. In kindergarten we had a school trip to the zoo. Because this was the olden days, all the little kids wore name tags so the docents could call us by our names. We were told to keep our name tags on. At the end of the day, we went into the petting zoo. I didn’t want to go inside, but they made me. As I stood there somewhat terrified, a goat walked up to me and ate my name tag. That was it. I started crying hysterically because in my mind, if a goat ate my name tag what was going to prevent him from eating me?
That makes perfect sense when one applies childhood logic 🙂
Why keep a rabbit that mean?
Just ignore the scratches on my hand from the cat. Besides…she didn’t need to be knocked out to get her to release.
Oh my gosh, your story reminds me of our pet rabbit when I was 4 or 5. Now, mind you, I actually *like* rabbits, but this one was bad. It was a black domestic breed of some kind, but we caught it in my grandma’s alley, where it had been living wild. It regularly attacked the hands that fed it, necessitating leather gloves for reaching in the cage. It also once attacked my mom’s foot on a snowy day…imagine a woman in snow boots trying to kick off the rabbit that is hanging from her foot. Finally, we decided that Sooty was not suited to domestication and we released her into the river bottoms. Despite her inherent meanness, I cried that day. I was only 5 and it’s hard to let your pets go, even when they are bloodthirsty.
Oh dear that is quite a mental image of your mother attempting to shake off a rabbit- sounds hilarious!
It does sound like Sooty was better being in the wild…bloodthirsty animals aren’t the greatest pets…
Yeah, Sooty was in a league all her own. She was also responsible for the time I swore in front of our pastor, who was over at our house for dinner. I was maybe 5 years old, and we were all out in the back yard chit-chatting before dinner. For some reason the subject of pets came up, specifically Sooty. I chimed in to say, “Yeah, that damn rabbit…” I don’t know how I was going to finish the sentence, because everybody was so surprised that I stopped short. I was mortified when I realized my error; I’m sure the adults laughed over it pretty well though. At least I can say that I was being accurate–she WAS a damn rabbit, and I’m sure I was just quoting my father when I said it.
I love this recipe!
Thanks! I make them a lot for work since people will eat “healthy” desserts at the hospital 😉
Easter must be hell for you! (Or do you get deep pleasure from biting the head off a chocolate marshmallow bunny?) I love your blogs, by the way. Great sense of humor!
Haha to be honest, while I love baking, I get satisfied really quickly from a bite of dessert, including just the ears of a chocolate bunny!
Those sound amazing! I love a good carrot cupcake. Thanks for sharing.
Love, B
That is crazy. I did not know rabbits were vicious like that. I was laughing at first, but that really is not funny. I understand your fear. I think I am a bit scared now, myself. 🙂
Maybe I only have run ins with evil rabbits.
This looks yummy, I will have to try it out. My son and I can’t have gluten. This will give him lots of healthy goodness and energy for Jiu Jitsu .
Very funny. You had me rolling…