Healthy Carrot Muffins
The 5 year old and I are still wrestling with the contents of his lunchbox. He is not brilliant with change, so I’ve kept his lunches simple and included only things I know he will eat. Food for school is after all fuel; there is no point in challenging him too much if he’s not going to eat what I put in the box. There is also a healthy eating policy in school. Not that it makes a huge difference to us as chocolate would be off the menu anyway (it’s kept for treats), but the school does encourage home-baked goods in the lunchbox.
In the normal run of things, many home-baked items will contain a lot of sugar. I’ve a mental image of my 5 year old bouncing off the walls in school if he gets a sugar rush. With the wintery weather approaching I’m also trying to sneak more fruit and veg into his diet. These healthy carrot muffins will do for breakfast, lunch or a snack. They have no processed sugar, are whole-wheat, egg and butter free and you don’t need a stand mixer or weighing scales to make them. In fact, all you need is a tablespoon and a medium sized mixing bowl.
I’m aware that many of my readers are controlling sugar intake in their diet. Each muffin contains 7.5ml of honey. For readers who are on a gluten-free diet I’d suggest you substitute the whole-wheat flour with either polenta (cornmeal) or ground almonds.
Just to warn you in advance that these treats don’t have a cake-like-texture, they are more of a dense pudding!
These muffins are so tasty that I got a request this morning to make enough for the whole school. I realise they’re not the prettiest item on the planet but if the 5 year old eats them with gusto that’s good enough for me. It’s brilliant to have another healthy option in the lunchbox.
Healthy Carrot Muffins (makes exactly 6)
Ingredients
- 1 large carrot, peeled and coarsely grated
- 3 tablespoons sultanas
- 5 tablespoons coarse wholemeal flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons honey
- 3 tablespoons natural yoghurt
- 2 tablespoons sunflower oil
Method
Preheat a (fan) oven to 160 degrees Celcius and line a muffin tin with 6 muffin cases.
Place all your ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Stir well until the carrots are well coated with all the ingredients. Divide the mixture between the muffin cases.
Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes then remove from the oven and allow to cool before eating.
Caitriona Redmond
I'm an Irish mother to 2 boys, born & bred in Dublin, Ireland. I like to cook simple & fresh food for the family, with the family on a budget.
22 Comments
Dr Hows Science Wows
Oh these look really yum! I have got to try these, thanks for sharing!
Wholesome Ireland
Thanks N, I hope you enjoy them!
Karen T
This is brilliant. I have been looking for something home baked for my daughter’s lunchbox. The school also has a healthy eating policy plus one of the other children has a severe egg allergy so this recipe is perfect – thanks for posting 🙂
Wholesome Ireland
Oh fantastic that’s great Karen. I hope you enjoy them.
Lisa
Couldn’t be that easy could they??! Wow gonna try them – do u think banana could be done the same way?
Wholesome Ireland
I promise they’re that easy Lisa. It doesn’t work as well with banana I’m afraid but you could try it with grated beetroot instead maybe?
Una Jordan
Hi Caitriona. I have these in the oven right now, looking forward to them. Do you think the entire mixture would go into a cake tin, as an exceptionally healthy carrot cake? Bit of cream cheese and orange juice to top it off? Or am I completely silly?
Wholesome Ireland
Hi Una, yes it should. I just find that making it in individual muffins is very lunchbox friendly. Extend the baking time by about 5-7 minutes if in a cake tin!
Una Jordan
They were lovely Caitriona. Thanks!
Wholesome Ireland
Ah great to hear, I’m so glad you enjoyed them!
Gillian
These went down brilliantly with all the family. Much nicer than you would expect given they’re “healthy” muffins. 🙂
Wholesome Ireland
Hahahaha I love that comment. Thanks Gillian I’m glad you like them!
dorothy
I had extra grated carrot left over, but luckily have seen this post earlier today. my mixture made exactly 11 cups (O.o) lol! still in oven, cannot wait to take a bite!
Wholesome Ireland
Ah great. I hope you enjoy them!
dorothy
Oh yes, very much! but, mixture actually was not as liquid as usually for muffins – it was not necessary to put it in cups – could just make them as cookies. Maybe I made some mistake, but still, very delicious 🙂
Wholesome Ireland
Making them as cookies sounds good to me as well. Great idea. I’m glad you liked them.
Connie
Just making these now :). Remember that honey contains the same basic sugar units (fructose and glucose) as cane sugar, and is actually higher in calories than cane sugar. So yeah these muffins still have plenty of sugar in them! That having been said, the fibre from the wholemeal flour and carrots will help prevent insulin spikes.
Wholesome Ireland
Absolutely aware of that. I just prefer to use honey for these instead of over-refined white granulated sugar. 😉
Christine
I tried making these today but my convection oven only does 155C or 170C. I picked 170 – mistake. They didn’t rise properly and got a little burnt on top. So I tried again at 155 and I think I need to go about 45 mins to get them just perfect with a bit of a crust on top. I took them out at 35 mins because they looked fine but the tops were not crusty. With this second batch, I added some rolled oats and two more tablespoons of wholewheat flour because the batter seemed rather wet, and the result was more cake-like but still nice.
I also made a batch in which I substituted Truvia for honey. They also worked out just fine. Just thought someone else might like to know.
Love the flavor. Thank you for this recipe!
Wholesome Ireland
Thanks for the detailed feedback! I’m glad you like them and hopefully it will be of help to somebody else.
maria
these were great – I had no natural yogurt so used creme fraiche and they were delicious! thanks
Kathryn
They are in the oven now. Looking forward to them.