Spiced Carrot Muffins (Sneaking in the Veggies)

These carrot muffins are the perfect way to start your day. These simple muffins are filled with carrots, spices, brown sugar, Greek yogurt and pumpkin pie spice. Not too sweet and incredibly moist. 
Well it is great to be back on track again with Potluck Sunday. Today I want to share a yummy muffin recipe that has been Muffin Man Approved!!! Yes that's right Mr. Carson has gave these muffins a thumbs up. As usual these are sneaky muffins which mean I have disguised the muffin with some type of vegetable.

In the past you have heard me talk about how Carson will not eat any vegetables. The only way to get him to eat veggies or beans is to sneak them in where ever I can. Usually that's in muffin form. So around our house Carson is know as "The Muffin Man" I keep hoping he grows out of this, but it seems like we are still stuck in this phase.

Carson is so bad that he can detect the veggies even if I shred them. So what I have to do is puree all the vegetables first and then add them to my muffin recipes. This can be a bit time consuming so every other month I set aside one afternoon to puree all sorts of different veggies and beans.

Then I store them in the freezer. This way I always have some type of vegetable or bean on hand to throw in a Muffin or Brownie recipe. Zucchini Muffins are Carson's favorite so, I always make sure I have some one hand to make at a moments notice. 

If you click on the link for my Zucchini Muffins in that post I showed you how I puree and freeze vegetables to use in muffins and quick breads. It's really a great time saver and the perfect disguise if you have a picky veggie eater like me.


OK back to these wonderful muffins. I had plenty of pureed carrots in the freezer so, muffins it was. I found a recipe for Spiced Carrot Muffins online.
 I did adapted the recipe a bit because the batter was just to bland for my taste. I'm sure the original recipe was good, but I know if I don't like the taste neither will Carson. 

These carrot muffins baked up nicely with a pretty orange tint to them. Which made it perfect for me to disguise them a bit more and call them Pumpkin Muffins. If I told Carson they were Carrot Muffins he wouldn't of touched them. He asked me if he had these muffins before. I told him yes you have this is your favorite pumpkin bread.

Mommy just made them into muffins instead. Carson said I love Pumpkin Muffins so he grabbed one and gobbled it down. 
Another mission accomplished!!! I think raisins would be a nice addition to this muffin recipe. So next time I want to add raisins to half of the batter.

The batter turns out so pretty and orange in color.

Let cool and enjoy.


Yum.... look how pretty and orange these muffins are. You can see a bit of the carrots but not much.




Spiced Carrot Muffins

Ingredients:

1  3/4 - cups all purpose or whole wheat flour
1/2- cup sugar or applesauce
1/2 - cup brown sugar
2 - teaspoons baking powder
3/4 - teaspoon baking soda
1/2 - teaspoon salt
2 - teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 - cup plain or Greek yogurt
4 - tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 - teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - large egg
1/4 - cup milk
2 - cups peeled, shredded carrots or
3/4 - cup pureed carrots
1/2 - cup golden raisins, optional

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Line 12 cups of a standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside. If not using muffin liners spray each muffin tin with baking spray.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugars, pumpkin-pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, milk, butter, egg and vanilla. If using pureed carrots add the pureed carrots to the wet ingredients.


If using shredded carrots fold into the batter last. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add yogurt mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in shredded carrots and raisins if using.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown or when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

If you want to use less sugar in this muffin recipe you can decrease the sugar amounts to 1/4 cup each.

Cook's Note: You can also use half whole wheat and half all purpose flour.

Recipe adapted from: Marthastewart.com


21 comments

Rachelle S said…
That's great he loves his "veggie" muffins! What about using baby food from the jar to help save all that prep time?
Tina Butler said…
Hi Rachelle, I dont mind pureeing and freezing all the veggies. I get zucchini , yellow squash and carrots for a steal at the store. They are always adding those to the clearance bin. Plus it is a great way to use up all the zucchini from the garden. The babyfood is a great idea when I dont have any on hand.
Michele said…
Those look really yummy! We're on a muffin rampage here, I think I just may have to try these.
The carrot muffins sound great. I've got a picky eater too, but carrots are one of the things he likes, especially raw. He wouldn't eat an apple if his life depended on it though. Crazy kids ;-)
Tina Butler said…
Well Tiffany you can make apple spice muffins those are always great.
Jane said…
You can never have enough good muffin recipes! These look great!
Laura said…
Ohh, I am gonna have to try these. I think I'll serve them up with some maple butter too! YUM!
Your muffin looks great. What a clever way to get Carson to eat his veggies!
Anonymous said…
That's a GREAT idea. I have a picky eater too. I love your idea and I'm going to try it because little guy loves muffins.
Maria said…
I wish I had a muffin right now! Yum!
Haha! That is hilarious! You have become quite the sneak when it comes to veggies.
Avril said…
I love the looks and sound of these muffins. I think my daughter would like them too! Gotta get in those veggies some howe...this is brilliant! Thanks Tina! :-)
Torviewtoronto said…
these muffins look delicious
These look so good! I love that you told him they were pumpkin :)
Kimberly said…
Hi Tina, saw your blog featured on Tasty Kitchen. I look forward to reading more of your posts. Like you, I'm a military brat, and spend all of my childhood overseas...Germany, Italy, Japan, and Hawaii. So I love to cook too, but my favorite is good ole' southern comfort food. Must be because of my Georgia roots, even though I've lived in TX for 13 years. Oh, and I have a kid who won't touch veggies either, except broccoli cheese soup and zucchini cakes.
Ruth Ann in East Texas said…
I just found you thru Ree's blog; every single thing you fix, I LOVE! Especially the down home cookin' like cream peas..you can't beat those summer veggies. I live in East Texas, close to Tyler! So nice to find you!
trooppetrie said…
yesturday i made brownies only instead of adding egg and oil i added a can of pureed black beans and my kids ate it up
Hi! I wanted to let you know that I used this recipe and posted and linked to you on my blog, Bentobloggy.com. Thanks!

-Emily
Bentobloggy.com

P.S. - I'm now following you, I hope you'll follow me back!
Kathryn said…
Your spiced carrot muffins look so tasty and they are perfect for Muffin Monday! Please link up so we can share your delicious recipe with our readers. Thanks!http://www.talkingdollarsandcents.net/muffin-monday-peanut-butter-muffins
Kasey said…
I love this recipe because my picky eaters (5 and 1 yr old) love these muffins! I make them all the time now and have gotten lazy and just dump two jars of 4 oz baby food (usually carrots and pumpkin-apple) instead of making a puree myself. I also tend to use coconut oil instead of butter and using sweetened vanilla yogurt instead of plain if I don't have it (and then cutting back on sugar and vanilla in the recipe) works too. Thank you for this great recipe!
Christina said…
These are great in baked doughnut form. I used all wholewheat flour and glazed them with lemon/brown sugar - wonderful!