Jul 6

Jul 6 CARROT CAKE MUFFINS

vegan | gluten free | dairy free

These muffins are adapted from a Carrot Cake recipe on The Minimalist Baker. I decided to make muffins because #selfcontrol, put a cake in front of me and I will eat the entire thing! Originally I was planning for these to be cupcakes but once they were baked they came out more dense than expected & honestly I am not mad about it at all. These muffins are dense & delicious. They are not too sweet but buttercream frosting adds that perfect touch of sugar, it is the icing on the cake…literally!

INGREDIENTS

MUFFIN BATTER

3 flax eggs (3 tbsp flaxseed meal + 7 1/2 tbsp water, let sit for 5 minutes minimum)
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1/2 cup coconut sugar
1/4 cup cane sugar
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 - 1 cup unsweetened cashew milk
1 1/2 cups loosely packed grated carrot
1 1/2 cups almond flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
1 1/2 cups gluten free flour blend (I used King Arthur All Purpose)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup craisins or raisins

ICING

1/2 cup vegan butter, softened (I used Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 - 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

**if you want to save some major calories you can interchange your coconut and cane sugar for Swerve sweetener substitutes. They are lovely to bake with & you cannot tell the difference between real sugar and their substitute. I have not tried these with this specific recipe but have used it for baking multiple times before. You can click here to see my kitchen essential list on amazon (sweetness are there)!

DIRECTIONS

MUFFINS

Prepare flax eggs in a large mixing bowl.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour your muffin pan (I ended up using one 12 muffins pan and one 6 pan) with coconut oil or vegan cooking spray and dust with gluten-free flour. Set aside.
To flax eggs, add oil and maple syrup and whisk to combine. Next, add applesauce, sugars, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon and whisk to combine.
Add 3/4 cup cashew milk and stir. Add grated carrots and stir. Then add almond flour and gluten-free flour blend and stir. The batter should be thick but pourable. If it is too thick, add remaining almond milk.
Stir in walnuts and raisins/craisins
Divide evenly among muffin pan. I weighed out each muffin to 60 grams of batter.
Bake for 26 minutes or until deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. When you press on the top, it shouldn’t feel tooooo spongy, so don’t be afraid of over-baking! I waited for my tops to crack just a bit.
Remove from oven and let rest in the pan for 15 minutes. Then carefully run a knife (or spoon) along the edges and move muffins onto cooling racks to let cool completely.
Once cooled, you can serve as is or frost!

FROSTING

Add softened butter to a mixing bowl. Beat until light and fluffy. Then add vanilla and mix again.
Sift your powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time and continue mixing until thick and creamy. Scrape down sides as needed. If it gets too thick or crumbly, add a splash non-dairy milk to thin (optional). You want this frosting to be very thick so it will hold its shape once on the muffins. If it gets too thin, thicken with more powdered sugar.
Once cooled completely (I made this mistake lol), frost them up!
Serve immediately. Store leftovers covered at room temperature or refrigerated up to 3 days.