Carrot Cake Muffins

I have been OD-ing on all things EGG.  Chocolate eggs, peanut butter cup eggs, cadburry eggs. malted milk eggs.  

I need to get a grip, which is why I made these low sugar, low fat and vegetable packed carrot cake muffins today.  I am proud to report that my afternoon ended up being an eggless one :)

Carrot Cake Muffins (Adapted from Martha Rose Schulman - The NYT)

Ingredients
2 ½ cups whole-wheat pastry flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups AP flour)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
½ teaspoon ground allspice
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon salt
2 eggs
⅓ cup raw brown (turbinado) sugar
⅓ cup canola oil

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 ⅓ cups buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
⅔ cup golden raisins tossed with 1 teaspoon unbleached all-purpose flour, or 2/3 cup chopped pecans
1 ½ cups grated carrots
3/4 cup sweetened coconut

PREPARATION
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees with the rack in the upper third of the space. Oil or butter muffin tins.
Sift together the whole-wheat pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, applesauce and vanilla. Using a whisk or a spatula, stir in the dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Do not beat; a few lumps are fine, but make sure there is no flour at the bottom of the bowl. Fold in the coconut, raisins or pecans and the carrots.

Spoon into muffin cups, filling them to just below the top (about 4/5 full). Place in the oven, and bake 25 minutes until lightly browned and well risen.

Butternut Squash Muffins

SQUASH! We cannot get enough.  My kids love it, I love it and thankfully it is in abundance this time of year.  I saw this recipe for butternut squash muffins and made them yesterday afternoon.  By 6pm the muffins were gone and then we all ate butternut squash pasta :)  

Butternut Squash Muffins

1 cup mashed roasted butternut squash
1 cup flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour (optional, can use 1.5 cups all purpose flour)
2 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 tbls melted butter
3/4 cup milk
1 egg

First roast your butternut squash. Pre-heat the oven to 350. Cut your squash in half the long way, coat with a bit of olive oil and place in a pan. Roast for about 30-40 minutes until it is nice and soft. Let it cool for a bit, then scrape the insides into a bowl. 

Preheat the oven to 400.  Whisk together the dry ingredients.  Beat the egg, then stir in the milk, butter, and roasted butternut squash.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and DON’T MIX TOO MUCH (will make your muffins heavy and they are already pretty heavy), just until they are combined

Pour into greased or papered 12-muffin pan (I used paper but I think greasing would have been better for these muffins – if you do use paper make sure the paper coordinates with your blog’s logo)
Bake for 20 minutes. These muffins will look done on the top, but may need a minute or two more to bake, you want them fully cooked on the inside since they are sort of rich and heavy. If you take them out too early they will be a bit rubbery (though still yummy).
Let them cool completely before eating.

pumpkin banana muffins

We had to turn on the heat this weekend.   Our thermostat read 62 degrees and the girls wouldn't take off their winter jackets, but I still feel guilty about turning on the heat before October!  

Fall is here, whether we like it or not, so in an effort to celebrate its' arrival, I whipped up a batch of these delicious pumpkin banana muffins.  

'Pumpkin Banana Muffins
2 ripe bananas, mashed
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups canned pumpkin puree
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins or chocolate chips






Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray muffin tins with non-stick cooking spray
In a large bowl, stir together the mashed banana, eggs, oil, pumpkin, honey and sugar. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, pie spice and cinnamon, stir into the banana mixture until just combined. Fold in the raisins and walnuts if desired. Pour batter into the prepared tins.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

  

Make sure to try out a few more of our favorite pumpkin recipes here, here, here, here, here and here.  Obsessed with pumpkin....maybe :)

Low Fat Blueberry Banana Muffins

We had a family wedding outside of San Francisco last weekend, which was incredibly fun!  We spent the 2 days leading up to the big event, enjoying all that San Fran has to offer. Not surprisingly,  my tour of the city focused on visiting different bakeries, restaurants, and watering holes.  I had more pastries in a 48 hour period than I usually eat in a month, and every single one of them was delicious and totally worth it.  Unfortunately for me this type of indulgence cannot be continued back in Wi, unless I want to pull out the maternity pants, so when my body went through withdrawal from not eating flaky chocolate filled croissants, I decided to give these low fat muffins a try.  The recipe does not call for any butter or oil, and they still taste delicious.   We blew through a dozen in 2 days!




Low Fat Blueberry Banana Muffins - Recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction
2 and 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour (or mix of whole wheat and all-purpose)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup light brown sugar, loosely packed (or dark brown sugar)
1 cup mashed very ripe banana (about 2 large very ripe bananas)
1/4 cup nonfat vanilla greek yogurt (or any yogurt)
1 large egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk (I used almond milk)
1 and 1/4 cup fresh or unthawed frozen blueberries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F degrees. Spray 15 muffin tins with nonstick spray.* Set aside.
In a large bowl, gently toss the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together until combined. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix the honey and brown sugar together - it will be thick and lumpy. Try to get out as many lumps as you can - a fork works well to break it up. Add the mashed banana, yogurt, and beaten egg. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Gently begin to fold it all together. It will be very thick. Add the milk slowly and continue to gently mix the ingredients together. The milk will thin everything out, but the batter will still remain thick. Gently fold in the blueberries. Do not overmix the batter, which will lend tough, dry muffins.

Divide the batter between 12 muffin tins. Fill all the way to the top.  Bake for 17-18 minutes until very lightly browned on the edges. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Allow the muffins to cool completely.

Each muffin is 131 calories each based on using nonfat vanilla greek yogurt and unsweetened almond milk. Muffins taste best the next day, like most banana bread recipes. Muffins remain fresh and moist stored at room temperature for up to 5 days. Muffins freeze well, up to 3 months.

Evidence that I could not control myself at Tartine!