This week Muffin Monday goes healthy again! I am not a big fan of baked goods with carrots unless it is cake form topped with cream cheese icing so when I saw our assignment was a carrot spice muffin I wasn’t sure I would like it. However, I found myself very pleasantly surprised by just how much I did indeed enjoy it!
One of the best things about muffins is that they come together in a snap and bake up quick. Instant gratification… I like it! These muffins are no exception. I absolutely loved how moist and flavorful they were. The combination of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and ginger complimented the carrots so nicely and made these muffins easy to devour. I also added some apple to mine. The muffins can be as healthy as you’d like to make them. There’s the option for using oil, butter or applesauce as one of your wet ingredients. I went with unsweetened, natural applesauce. You also have the option of using sugar or not. I went with honey.
With the use of whole wheat flour, no oil and only the natural sugar from the applesauce and honey you can see I went the super-healthy route but let me assure you, these muffins didn’t suffer because of it. Since joining in on the Muffin Monday fun, Madelyn seems to be the biggest consumer of muffins in our household so I didn’t feel at all guilty letting her indulge in these muffins. Also, as I ate them I certainly didn’t feel like I was missing out on anything by not having used the less healthy options.
Enjoy!
~K
Carrot-Apple Spice Muffins Adapted from Whole Foods for the Whole Family
*Makes 12 muffins
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1/3 cup of honey OR 1/3 cup brown sugar (I used honey)
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk OR 1/2 cup yogurt (I used buttermilk cause it was what I had in the fridge)
1/3 cup oil OR 1/3 cup melted butter OR 1/3 cup applesauce (I used unsweetened, natural applesauce)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup grated apples
– Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
– In a medium bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and allspice.
– In a second larger bowl, mix together the honey, egg, buttermilk, applesauce, vanilla extract, carrots and apples.
– Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until just moistened.
– Divide the batter among 12 muffins cups.
– Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean.
– Cool on a wire rack.
– Enjoy!
Muffin Monday is an initiative by Baker Street. A culinary journey of sharing a wickedly delicious muffin recipe every week. Drop in a quick line to join her on her journey to make the world smile and beat glum Monday mornings week after week.
|
{ 26 comments… read them below or add one }
Okay seriously…how did you get your muffins to look so gosh darn perfect?!?! I loved this recipe and it’s definitely become one of my favourites so far.
Ha! Thank you so much!!! I think I just got lucky, i guess
Your muffins look lovely Kate! Lovely clicks!
Thanks A!!
Kate, I think the buttermilk gave the batter a more runny consistency than yoghurt. That’s why your muffins looked really nice with rounded tops rounded while mine were slightly lumpy!
Oh, you may be right! But lumpy is ok, as long as they tasted good 😉
These look perfect. So neat and beautiful. Happy Monday.
Thanks Anita!!
This cookbook was a favorite of mine when my children were little, but I seldom get it out now. I may give these muffins a try though. I love carrot muffins.
They really were tasty!
Beautiful muffins! And I love that you added apple to them! My kids are loving Muffin Monday, too. 🙂
Thanks Carrie!
Cute looking muffins! I like how this recipe was so healthy so I don’t feel so bad eating a few for breakfast.
Thanks! Yes, the healthiness of them is definitely a plus… No guilt!
Oooh. LOVE the addition of apples, too! And with all those spices we used? Gorgeous!
Hi Kate,
Thanks for your help over the weekend. 😉 I love how simple and gorgeous your muffins looked!
You’re very welcome! Thanks and I’m headed over to check yours out right now!
How irresistable ! Love your step by step photos…so helpful! Glad to bake along with you on this Muffin Mon.!
Thanks! If I have the time I usually try to provide step-by-step photos… think it helps to see what things are supposed to look like 🙂
These muffins look so good I saw them on Foodgawker and I just had to leave you a comment to tell you how much I love them! I have to add these to my recipe folder. Thank you so much for sharing these. Your photos are beautiful!
What a lovely comment! Thank you so much! Hope you enjoy them if you do make them.
I’m not a fan of carrot cakes either but liked these muffins alot. More apples in yours made it even perfect for Fall. They came out perfect!
Just made these. Very good. Kids (3 year old and 11 month old) love them. I think next time I’ll skip on the yogurt and go with buttermilk though.
I’m so glad you and your children enjoyed these muffins, Jana!
Hi Kate. I have a quick question. With your carrots and apples, did you finely grate them? I finely grated my carrots, and they took over the batter….lol
Hi Sarah! I just grated them on a regular box grater so, no they weren’t finely grated. They were more like shreds of carrots and apples. Also, if you feel like the carrots took over your batter 😉 you could always cut back that measurement a bit. Maybe use 3/4 cup or 1/2 cup of carrots and 1/2 cup of apples. I don’t think the recipe would suffer at all if you used less. Hope you’ll give the muffins another shot! Let me know how they work out for you.