By Katherine Deumling of Cook With What You Have
I created these muffins for a nutritious and delicious after school snack for my son. They can be adapted to your taste and to what you have on hand. They are definitely bake-with-what-you- have muffins. The variations are really infinite. This recipe is only mildly sweet and the muffins are moist, chewy and a bit dense. They hold up well and are just fine a few days later if sealed tightly. They also freeze well.
Variations:
Add raisins and/or nuts if you like
Use all apple or all carrot, rather than a combination of the two
Add shredded coconut or mashed banana instead of the carrot or even grated beets (though I’ve never tried it but I’m sure it would work).
Makes 12 muffins or 10 if you slightly overfill the tins for a taller muffin
2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (or a combination of all purpose and whole wheat or just all- purpose for a lighter muffin)
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Grated zest of one lemon (optional but very good)
2 ½ cups loosely packed grated apples and carrots (depending on your size of apples and carrots, 2 medium carrots and 1 small-medium apple generally do the trick when I grate the carrots on the smaller holes of a box grater and the apples on the larger ones)
2 eggs ¼ cup olive oil or sunflower oil (or melted butter)
2/3 cup whole milk or yogurt
½ cup honey or ¾ cup sugar
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Whisk all the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Whisk all wet ingredients (including sugar if using that instead of honey) and lemon zest in another bowl, leaving grated fruit/veg separate. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix quickly to combine. Add the grated apples and carrots and stir until just combined.
Portion evenly into lightly greased muffins tins and bake for about 18-20 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Do not over-bake. They will continue baking a bit after they come out of the oven. The inside should still look just a bit moist when you break it open. Carefully remove from tin by running a knife around the edges and let cool on a wrack. When cool, wrap tightly in cling wrap and freeze any you won’t eat within 2-3 days.
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