Carrot Cake Muffins
Moist carrot cake muffins with cream cheese frosting. Tender, healthy muffins that taste like your favorite carrot cake! Made with applesauce, whole grain, and refined sugar free.
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 1 hour
Servings: 12 muffins
Ingredients
For the Muffins:
- ½ cup raw pecans or walnuts
- 1 ⅓ cups white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour*
- ⅔ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups packed coarsely grated carrots from about 9 ounces or 4 medium carrots
- ⅓ cup golden raisins
- ¼ cup creamy almond butter or cashew butter the drippy, natural kind**
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ⅓ cup honey
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk or milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For the Cream Cheese Frosting:
- 4 ounces reduced-fat cream cheese softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup powdered sugar sifted if lumpy
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon finely grated lemon or orange zest optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the nuts in a single layer on an ungreased baking sheet. Toast them in the oven until crisp and fragrant, about 8 to 10 minutes. Set a timer and do not walk away from the nuts during the last few minutes of baking (this is when nuts love to burn). Transfer to a cutting board and roughly chop. Set aside 1/4 cup for the muffin batter. Finely chop the remaining nuts and save for sprinkling on top.
- Increase the oven heat to 400 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the white whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Add the carrots, golden raisins, and reserved 1/4 cup chopped nuts. With a spoon or flexible spatula, gently fold to combine.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the almond butter, applesauce, and honey until smooth. Whisk in the eggs, milk, and vanilla. Add to the carrot and flour mixture. With a wooden spoon or spatula, fold and stir very gently by hand, stopping as soon as the flour disappears.
- Coat a standard 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick spray or line with paper liners. Fill each about three-quarters of the way with batter. (If you have some extra batter, resist the urge to overfill the muffin cups; you can bake the extra as soon as the first batch is out). Bake the muffins for 14 to 16 minutes, or until the muffins are domed, light golden on top, and a toothpick inserted into the center of each comes out clean. Place the pan on a cooling rack and let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then gently remove them from the pan and place them on the rack to cool completely (do not leave the muffins in the pan for longer or they can become too soggy as they start to steam).
- For the cream cheese frosting: In a medium mixing bowl, place the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon zest (if using). With an electric mixer on low speed, beat until the powdered sugar begins to incorporate, then increase the heat to medium and continue to beat until smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled muffins and sprinkle with the remaining finely chopped walnuts.
Notes
- *You can use regular whole wheat flour, but the wheat will have a more pronounced taste than white whole wheat flour or whole wheat pastry flour.
- **You can use peanut butter as well, though the flavor will be different. I recommend this recipe with a drippy, natural-style nut butter, as that will give the muffins the right consistency, though a shelf-stable almond butter I tested still yielded good results.
- Store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 4 days (they taste even better on Day 2). Freeze according to my guide for how to store muffins and other quick breads.
Nutrition
Serving: 1muffinCalories: 244kcalCarbohydrates: 38gProtein: 6gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1gCholesterol: 32mgFiber: 3gSugar: 20g
