We’re getting close to Easter—you can tell by all the sweet goodies in the food markets screaming at you to buy them—creamy chocolate eggs, rabbits, marshmallow peeps, and jelly beans! They’re all very tempting with their lovely pastels, but maybe you want something a bit healthier.
I’ve been doing spring cleaning and rearranging in my kitchen, and I ran across these cute little candy carrots I bought last year. I figured I better use them, but I didn’t want to make a cake (though carrot cake is my husband’s favorite). But still—I could see these cute little decorations on cupcakes. So, I took things a step on the healthier side and worked out this muffin recipe.
They are healthy enough to eat for breakfast since they contain rolled oats and whole wheat flour. You can doctor them up to suit your tastes and needs, too. I used a mix of macadamia nuts and walnuts, mainly because I always use mac nuts in carrot cake. If you choose, you can leave them both out or use pecans. Add a spoonful or two of coconut if you like.
I glazed them with a mix of confectioner’s sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice, but you can serve them without.
Healthy-ish Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup grated carrots
- ½ cup applesauce
- ½ cup (about 1) medium banana, mashed
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ¾ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup rolled oats
- ⅓ cup brown or coconut sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp ginger
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ⅓ cup chopped nuts, your choice (optional)
- ⅓ cup raisins (optional)
Prepare a 12-well or 6-well jumbo muffin tin by lining it with cupcake papers. Set aside.
Whisk the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl until thoroughly blended; set aside.
In another bowl, combine the carrots, applesauce, banana, eggs, vanilla, and oil until incorporated.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix until just combined. Fold in the raisins and nuts if using. Pour the mixture into the muffin pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer muffins to a rack to finish cooling. Glaze and decorate, if desired.
