A wonderful honey oat carrot cake muffin that is loaded with nutritious ingredients! These muffins taste just like carrot cake with a lovely honey oat undertone. Make them for breakfast and devour!
We’re making carrot cake muffins today! I feel like there’s always a time and place for carrot cake so I’m super excited whenever I have a new recipe to share. Today’s recipe is easy and flavourful and full of wholesome, delicious ingredients.
It’s not always easy to bake with fruit or vegetables. Especially when replacing the sugar with honey but these honey oat carrot cake muffins turned out perfect! So soft and moist!
I’ve been wanting to have a solid honey muffin recipe and although it took me a while to perfect the recipe, I’m really happy with how these turned out. The fact that they have oats in them make them all the more nutritious and tempting.
Carrot cakes are usually jam packed with flavour and this recipe is no different. Tons of fruits and veggies, spices and dairy. I’m talking carrots and carrot cakey flavours; cinnamon and ginger, oats and nuts. You can add in a mashed banana too! All combined together with honey for sweetness 😄
Favourite Ingredients to use
- Honey
- Oats
- Vanilla extract and spices
- Applesauce
- Greek yoghurt
- Carrots
- Nuts and add-ins; walnuts, pecans, almonds, raisins/currents
I made these for muffins breakfast. Actually I prepared them the night before because I love the flavours of baked goods the next day, especially if using fruits. This way they have a chance to set completely and intensify in flavour and texture. Plus, they’re ready to be eaten as soon as you wake up!
Whether you make these at night or in the morning, this recipe is super easy and the muffins will taste delicious! 😄
How to make applesauce
You can use store bought applesauce but I find it super easy to make it at home. All you need to do is shred some apples and add to a saucepan. Pouring in 2 tablespoons of water at a time, cook the apples over medium low heat until they are soft and have reduced to half the amount.
Once reduced, the applesauce can be used as is or blended to a smoother consistency. Let it cool completely before storing in the fridge.
You can use any type of apple, red or green. I tend to make a small amount according to how much I need. For this recipe, 2 large apples and 1/4 to 1/3 cup of water. There is no need to add any sugar or spice as we add enough to the batter.
How to get big muffin tops
When I think muffins I think muffin tops. Large, tall and domed tops. There’s something so enticing when you see these plump tops. It’s also very self satisfying knowing that they’ve risen beautifully and baked just how they were supposed to.
To achieve this lovely muffin top, you need to do two things:
- First, make sure to fill your muffin tray or cupcake cups all the way to the top. This makes the muffins bake up big and round, giving a nice muffin top.
- Secondly, you need to initially bake your muffins at a higher temperature for the first 8 – 9 minutes. Then lower it down and continue baking until the muffins are cooked through. The reason why you do this is because that first burst of heat makes the muffins puff up high. In doing so, the muffins will crisp up a little from the outside forming a nice big crust.
This recipe is very forgiving and can be tweaked to your liking. Try adding different ingredients to the batter like raisins or nuts maybe even some shredded coconut.
Next time I’ll be making these with some apples in place of some of the carrots and adding some extra add-ins to the batter. I’ve added a note of a few things you can use to switch up the muffins so be sure to check them out below! 😄
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Ingredients
1 1/3 cups 1 1/3 (165gms) flour
1 cup 1 (120gms) rolled oats
1 1/2 teaspoons 1 1/2 baking powder
1/2 teaspoon 1/2 baking soda
1/4 teaspoon 1/4 salt
3/4 teaspoon 3/4 cinnamon (more if desired)
1/4 teaspoon 1/4 ginger
1 large 1 egg
1/2 teaspoon 1/2 vanilla extract
1/2 cup 1/2 (125gms) honey
1/3 cup 1/3 (80mls) unsweetened applesauce*
1/4 cup 1/4 (60mls) oil
1/2 cup 1/2 (120gms) plain Greek yoghurt**
1 cup 1 cup (about 1 large) shredded carrots***
Optional: 1/2 cup Optional: walnuts, pecans, raisins/currents/sultanas, shredded coconut
Directions
- Preheat oven to 200C. Crease and flour a muffin tray or line with paper cups.
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and oats until well combined. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk together egg, vanilla, honey, oil and applesauce until well combined. Add in half of the shredded carrots and whisk.
- Add remaining half of carrots to the dry flour mix and stir to combine. Add half of this dry mix to the liquids, then add the yoghurt then add the rest of the dry mix. Whisk batter only until *just* combined. At this point you can toss in the nuts and raisins. Gently fold them in, taking care not to over mix.
- Divide batter between muffin cups and bake for 8 – 9 minutes then lower heat to 180C and continue baking until cooked through, about 12 – 15 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.
Notes
- *Applesauce can be replaced by same amount of mashed banana.
- **Regular yoghurt can be used instead of Greek yoghurt but textures may vary slightly.
- ***Carrots can be replaced by an equal amount of shredded apples or a mix of both. Try adding some nuts, raisins or even shredded coconut to the batter, about 1/2 cup.
- Recipe by the dutch baker.
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