Carrot-Apple Spice Muffins ~ Muffin Monday

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!

Tagged as: allspice, baking, breakfast, brunch, buttermilk, carrot, cinnamon, fruit, ginger, healthy, honey, Muffin Monday, nutmeg, recipe, snack, sweet