Carrot Raisin Muffins

Note/Suggestions: makes 24 regular sized muffins or 72 mini muffins

Ingredients:

  • 1 ½ cups Unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ cups White Wheat Flour
  • 2 Tbs. Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
  • ½ tsp. Salt
  • 4 Large Eggs
  • 1 cup Light Brown Sugar
  • 1 ½ cups 2% milk
  • ½ cup Butter, melted
  • 2 cups Carrots, pureed or grated or a mixture of the two*
  • ¾ cups Raisins (optional) craisins or other dried berry can be substituted
  • ¾ cups Chopped Nuts (optional) almonds, walnuts, pecan, cashew

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 375F.
  2. Prep muffin tins by greasing the tins with butter or Pam or using a muffin liner.
  3. Sift first five (5) ingredients together. Note: if you do not have a sifter or a sieve put all ingredients in a bowl and use a whisk to mix well and aerate.
  4. In bowl of a mixer, mix eggs and sugar until smooth. Add milk and melted butter and mix until well blended. Add carrots and raisins and nuts if desires.
  5. In two batches, add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in the missing bowl. Mix well but do not over beat.
  6. Spoon muffin mixture into tins. Fill a little over ½ of the way full.
  7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until springy to the touch.
  8. Let cool for 5 minutes in tin and then transfer to a cooling rack. Let cool completely before frosting or dusting with sugar.
Optional Frosting: Combine one 8oz container of light whipped cream cheese, ½ tsp of vanilla and 3 Tbs. of powdered sugar. Spread on top of muffins. Decorate if desired with nuts, raisins, etc.
Tips: You can add more powdered sugar to your own personal liking. Use a standard ice cream scoop to fill muffin tins, it will give you uniform sized muffins as a finished product.

* Pureed carrots: grate about 2 – 3 cups of carrots or cut carrots into small pieces, about the size if your thumb nail. Put in a sauce pan with 4 tbsp of water and a pinch of salt. Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for about30-45 minutes covered or until the carrots are very soft. Let cool and purée in a blender or food processor. This puree can now be used in all sorts of recipes from muffins, cookies, pancakes, pound cakes, etc.