We’re supposed to be going to England tomorrow. Supposed to. Dave got an invite to a work friends’ wedding in England. They rented out a big house to invite a bunch of guests and have them stay for a week- and we made the cut! But we can’t go. My 5 month-olds passport that I filed for 4 months ago still isn’t here yet and I can’t very well leave him behind : / SAD. I bought a fairly expensive, fancy dress for this shindig too! I guess I’ll just have to wear it around the house instead. Now if I can just think of a way to stop Daves’ pouting… haha poor guy.
So what do I do to truly console myself? I bake.
Well, in this case I made these more out of necessity than anything else. I needed a distraction and my daughter was out of muffins. I regularly make her some sort of healthy muffin with either a good dose of grains or some hidden vegetables. After all, a child can’t live on yogurt and graham crackers alone. In this cake I went with carrots. And of course, raisins. My daughter isn’t interested in the muffin if there aren’t raisins. Personally I think it’s kind of weird. I hated raisins when I was a kid. Unless they were covered with chocolate, in which case they were one of my favorite things. I also used half whole-wheat flour and half regular AP flour.
I bought a silicone muffin tray to freeze muffin batter in a few months back. Once they are frozen, I pop them into a gallon-sized ziplock bag and keep them at a ready for when my daughter needs something to eat. I bake them straight from the freezer- covering them with foil half the time since they bake 10 minutes or more longer than usual. I’ve become dependent on this method as a food source for her.
The more I look at this photo the more frustrated I get. Why is the fork the only thing in focus? Yes, what a nice looking fork. And never mind that blurry orange blob. It’s of no importance to this post or anything… Jeez, Laura. Get it together.
Carrot Spice Muffins
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 Tb baking powder
- 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup packed light brown sugar
- ⅔ cup canola oil
- 2 large eggs
- ¾ cup whole milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely shredded carrots (about 3 medium, peeled and trimmed)
- ⅓ cup moist raisins (soak 5 minutes in very hot tap water)
- ⅓ cup pecans or walnuts, toasted, cooled and chopped
- ⅓ cup shredded, sweetened coconut
Directions:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the brown sugar; making certain there are no lumps. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the oil, eggs, milk, and vanilla extract together until well combined. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend- a few lumps are okay. Stir in the carrots, raisins, nuts, and coconut. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups.
Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold.
Notes
Raisins, nuts, and/or coconut are all optional
