Gluten-free Carrot Cake Muffins

For a quick breakfast on the run, it's nice to have these moist tasty muffins full of high energy ingredients. Hint: if you call them Carrot Cake muffins instead of Healthy Carrot muffins, kids will eat them too. It's all in the name. 

Serve with whipped cream cheese or butter and a mug of hot tea.

Gluten-free Carrot Cake Muffins

Adapted from Little Spice Jar

Makes 14-16 muffins

1 cup whole grain flour (make your own gluten-free whole grain flour)
1 cup white flour (I use Cup4Cup for a gluten-free version)

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp cinnamon

⅔ cup melted coconut oil 

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce

1/3 cup greek yogurt

3 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups carrots, finely shredded

1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup raisins, plumped in 1 cup boiling water, then drained
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

sesame seeds

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line your muffin tin with paper liners.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour(s), baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt, set aside.

In a large bowl with a whisk, hand mixer, or stand mixer, on medium speed, combine the brown sugar and oil. Beat in the yogurt and apple sauce until fully combined – about 1 minute. Mixture will be gritty and thin. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.

With a spatula, manually stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and all flour pockets are gone. Don't over-mix or the muffins will be tough. Fold in the finely shredded carrots, shredded coconut, raisins, and walnuts. The muffin mixture will be thick. Pour into prepared cupcake pans. Sprinkle tops with sesame seeds, if desired.

Bake for 20 – 23 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few crumbs. Let cool for ten minutes before tasting. These store well in the freezer in a ziplock bag if they will not be consumed within 2-3 days.