If you’re a carrot cake lover like I am, than you’re gonna absolutely love these! Carrot cake may just be one of my top 3 favorite cakes, if not my number 1. So I was very excited when I came up with this healthier muffin version that uses no oils or refined sugars in the batter.
EVERYTHING YOU’LL NEED TO MAKE THESE HEALTHY Carrot Cake MUFFINS
- All Purpose Flour: makes the muffin texture soft!
- Oat flour: fiber-rich grain that I like to mix in with my all-purpose flour because it is lower on the glycemic index (I learned this trick from my grandma). If you don’t have oat flour on hand, it is super easy to make, you just blend up rolled oats until it is a fine powder. If you’d like to watch a demo you can check out my how-to video on instagram here. However, you can also sub for another flour of your choice.
- Baking Staples: these are gonna help our muffins rise and provide a fluffy, full texture! When using baking soda, I like to crush the chunks that it sometimes has before sprinkling it into anything I’m baking because I know from experience that no one enjoys biting into a chunk of baking soda.
- Sweeteners: instead of using processed sugar, these muffins are naturally sweetened with maple syrup and a ripe banana.
- Yogurt: I use whole milk yogurt but feel free to use greek yogurt as well. I like to use yogurt instead of oil in my baked goods sometimes because it provides more protein, less calories and added moisture.
- Carrots: adds a natural sweetness to the energy bites, plus carrots are high in vitamins with the ability to boost your immune system, help your eyesight and lower your cholesterol and diabetes risk.
Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
If you're a carrot cake lover like I am, than you're absolutely gonna love these! Carrot cake may just be one of my top 3 favorite cakes, if not my number 1. So I was very excited when I came up with this healthier muffin version that uses no oils or refined sugars in the batter.
Ingredients
Dry
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup oat flour If you don’t have this, blend up rolled oats until fine like powder
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
Wet
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup whole milk yogurt
- 1.5 cups carrots, grated (about 3-4 carrots)
- 1 banana, mashed
Mix-Ins
- 1/4 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped
Icing
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Toppings
- pecans or walnuts, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F. Spray a muffin tin with cooking spray.
- Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, mix all of your wet ingredients together.
- Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and hand stir until combined. Then add in your chopped pecans or walnuts.
- Scoop your batter into your muffin tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean. During this time, make your icing.
- To make your icing, mix all your icing ingredients together in a mixer until smooth.
- Allow muffins to cool and then top with your icing and chopped pecans or walnuts. Enjoy!
