Carrot Spice Muffins
Here's one way to get your kids to eat their vegetables: Bake them into muffins (the vegetables, that is, not the kids!) I baked these muffins over the weekend, and my daughter E. didn't even bat an eye at the shreds of carrot in them, despite the fact that she's never even had carrot cake, as far as I know. They turned out very dense, slightly sweet, moist and tender and gently spiced. Best of all, since I used white whole wheat flour and only a bit of sugar, they're healthier than most muffins, even fat-free ones.
Carrot Spice Muffins
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Dry ingredients:
1 3/4 cups white whole wheat flour (or a mixture of whole wheat and unbleached flours)
1/4 cup natural sugar
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
Wet ingredients:
1/3 cup agave nectar
1/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup soy yogurt*
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup shredded carrots (about 3)
1/4 cup raisins
Optional topping: Vanilla sugar
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a muffin pan with non-stick spray or use muffin liners. (I used silicone muffin pans.)
Mix together all dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a small bowl, combine the liquid ingredients. Add the liquid to the dry and mix just long enough to combine. Add the carrots and raisins and stir to combine.
Spoon the batter into the muffin cups--it will be very thick. Sprinkle with vanilla sugar, if desired. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.
*People sensitive to soy may try substituting rice milk or other non-dairy milk.
Makes 12 muffins. Each contains: 132 Calories (kcal); 1 g Total Fat; (4% calories from fat); 3 g Protein; 30 g Carbohydrate; 0 mg Cholesterol; 244 mg Sodium; 3 g Fiber
posted by SusanV at 12:06 PM
36 Comments:
Oh yum, these muffins are calling my name. There's just something about the combination of carrot and spice. Although I was thinking about adding shredded zucchini too- (hopefully that won't screw them up). Thanks for sharing these healthy muffing alternatives! I'm glad that E enjoyed them, and that you baked tha carrots instead of baking her!
-Teresa
Those look awesome! I've been on a healthy-muffin kick lately, so these will definitely be added to my "To Do" list!
Looks yummy! I don't have any agave nectar- could I substitute maple syrup? If so- what amount would be comparable? I also don't have any soy yogurt- but thought of using soy milk. Any thoughts?
Thanks!
Teresa, I've been thinking of doing zucchini muffins, too. Zucchini is moister than carrots, so you may have to adjust the liquid.
Lena, I hope you'll give them a try. They're the new favorites around here.
Addy, maple syrup isn't quite as sweet as agave, so you may need to add a little more of it. Why not use 3/4 of a cup of it and 1/4 cup of soymilk. I can't promise without trying it myself, but I think that should work.
What's agave nectar? I really want to make these, but don't have any of it. Are there any more commonplace replacements?
Agave nectar is a sweetener that comes from the agave plant. It's sweeter than sugar, so you need less of it; plus, it may be better for diabetics because of its low glycemic index(though that point is controversial). You can use any liquid sweetener instead: maple syrup (see above), rice syrup, even corn syrup or honey, if you're not opposed to them. Or you can use granulated sugar and add a bit more water.
ooh yummy. I have a carrot cardamom doughnut recipe that sounds like that also. Though I use mashed banana instead of applesauce, and they're gluten-free
Very very cool, Susan... and no added oil! Am impressed.
I would think a combination of grated summer squash would also work. Chopped nuts might be possible, too, but moisture would need adjusting.
Agave is a bit expensive and I'm glad you added some tips in comments about alternatives.
Anyway, I think you've a fine recipe here that can be tweaked in a couple of interesting directions (cranberries!! apples!! dates!!).
As always, thanks...
Great photos.
I made these today when I saw the recipe and realized that I had all the ingredients (with a few subs), and really needed to use some of them up.
I used WW pastry flour, soy milk instead of yogurt, and walnuts instead of raisins. The muffins are good. Definitely "healthy" tasting, but in a good way that makes me feel good instead of guilty when eating them!
Picture of my muffins here: http://flickr.com/photos/43131058@N00/410399085/
You should post about home made carrot juice. If you haven't tried it, it is absolutely the best thing in the world no matter what your taste. Start off with a bag of carrots, throw that in your juicer. You may want to just taste that, as it can be quite enjoyable. But here's where the fun comes in, you can add almost anything you want to the mix. Apples, cranberries, celery, tomato, cabbage, lemon, grapefruit, orange, ginger, anything with a distinct taste. You can make drinks sweeter than maple syrup to extremely bitter, and everything in between.
this morning i found that i had some leftover canned pumpkin, and decided that i wanted to make muffins. when i saw this healthy recipe, it seemed like the sort of thing i was looking for. so i replaced the amount of carrots for an equal amount of canned pumpkin, and ommitted the apple sauce for fear that the batter would be too wet. the muffins turned out well!
marygrace
Oh yum! I love that these are healthy and they look great. The carrot and spice combo will be a sure hit with Britty too!! :P
They looks so yummy and healthy.Great thing to have if you are on diet.I would love bake some of them for myself.Thanx for sharing this healthy stuff!!Emmie
These look and sound so fabulous- and I have all the ingredients- I'm going to make them today! Thanks for always making even healthy things that much better!
p.s. in response to David's comment, above, juicing carrots is where I get the huge amounts of shredded carrot pulp in my freezer that allow me to make these muffins! Juice and muffins... carrots just keep on giving!
These look great. I have an abundance of carrots right now and these are going to hit the spot. I also have some of the darker Agave nectar that I will try in these muffins. Thank you Susan for another awesome recipe!
they looks so good!thanks for the recipe
Gluten Free version, here we come!
OMG. first it was 'four drops sesame oil' in the cajun tempeh, now it's one whole tbsp. of flax seeds. she's conspiring to make us fat.
;-)
I think my mom would like these muffins. She's LOVES carrot cake and she's always shocked when she learns it's vegan.
Teddy
Susan, I just need to tell you that your muffins are fantastic. They are so light and moist. I will put pictures on my blog later today, but I had to compliment you. The whole family enjoyed them. I have never had a whole wheat muffing that was this light and moist. Way to go!
I will substitute dairy yoghurt for the soy. I am wary of soy, and so is my gynecologist, because I have had a pre-cancerous condition of the uterine lining. In consultations with physicians, all have advised me to severely limit soy, if I use it at all, and to use as unprocessed soy as possible, ie) edamame not soy milk or yoghurt or soy powders etc.
Back to the recipe: I've used a banana bread/muffin recipe from Christine Cushing at foodtv.ca that is delicious, although yes it uses yoghurt. For the fat it uses only 2 tablespoons of canola oil.
Although I'm not a vegan or even strictly vegetarian, I appreciate your recipes very much. I know when I do choose to eat this way the recipes will be tasty and well-tested.
These look delicious and I am delighted to see that you are making a carrot recipe the week that our great big vegetable challenge hits C for Carrots.
We have just tried a carrot and polenta cake recipe which was delicious - but your recipe is even healthier!
GreatBigVegChallenge
I love it when things are tasty and nutritious at the same time :)
Thanks for the recipe! I just made these but substituted silken tofu for the soy yogurt and a banana for the apple sauce (because I didn't have neither.) They turned out soft, moist and perfect!
I found this recipe randomly on Google actually. I unfortunately had to sub a lot of things since I live in a country without things like agave syrup, applesauce, or whole wheat flour, but they still turned out yummy.
I definitely recommend trying these with wild blueberry soy yogurt if you can find it in your country. It added a nice element :)
We made these with my boyfriend who isn't a vegetarian, but he trusts my "food sense" so he was all up to baking these for a party we went to. We did quite a bit of substituting, no agave nectar in Finland, soy yoghurt is too pricey and we didn't have flax seeds either, so we substituted water, orange juice (because I wanted some orange there), a little more apple sauce, a few tablespoons of soy flour and a bit more sugar. The dough tasted wonderful, like gingerbread, and of course the whole place smelt great when they were baking.
The final result was a bit disappointing at first as we baked them in paper muffin cups and when we ate the first ones half of the stuff stuck to the cups. But we should have just been a little patient, they were just fine when they had completely cooled down. My BF found them a bit spongy, but still wants to make them again.
And they were a big hit at the party where I was probably the only vegetarian. I don't think anyone knew they were vegan and almost no-fat. So we'll definitely be making more in the future, especially since there's so little work needed.
Susan, we can't find agave nectar here in Australia, and I don't have soy yogurt in the house cuz i don't like any of it that I've found ... so I tried your substitution suggestion of 3/4 c maple syrup and 1/4c soy milk. They were wonderful! Even my skeptical hubby found that he loved them! Thanks for a big hit, as many vegan muffin recipes I've tried have bombed. These were great!
Anna
They turned out just great! Took a little bit longer in the oven though - about 25-27 minutes.
I am so happy that I first decided to make only three muffins...I ate them all as soon as they were ready. And I am even a huge fan of muffins...But those are just DELICIOSO!!!
I just came across your site yesterday and LOVE IT! I made the pupusas last night...
My 2 year old and I got up early and made these for breakfast- we used Honey (I know, not vegan) instead of Agave and Almond Milk instead of soy yogurt but we otherwise true to the recipe... The whole house smells lovely and the muffins were moist and fluffy. I'm always looking for new lowfat muffins. Thanks so much!
wow, these look amazing Susan! I am so making these!!:)
Hey Susan!
Lovely muffins! But liquid sweeteners are super costly in Singapore, I only have the dry sugar. Can I still make these?
Hi again Susan--this is a great recipe. I made them back at Easter, and have been meaning to tell you that my son and his girlfriend loved these, K especially. She brought four home with them, and M reported, laughing, that he only got one, and K wanted me to e-mail her the link to your recipe. The next time I saw M, he was about to eat the last muffin, then said, maybe I'll bring this home to K. She's kind of down and in a bad mood today, and when I left the house, I told her if I found something to cheer her up, I would bring it back." And so he brought her the last muffin. So a sweet story to go with your sweet and spicy muffins. Thanks again for all the great nurturing your recipes are providing us.
I made these yesterday and they turned out great!
I just made these yesterday and they turned out great - very moist!
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