Spiced Carrot Muffins (Sneaking in the Veggies)

These carrot muffins are the perfect way to start your day. These simple muffins are filled with carrots, spices, brown sugar, Greek yogurt and pumpkin pie spice. Not too sweet and incredibly moist. 

Well it is great to be back on track again with Potluck Sunday. Today I want to share a yummy muffin recipe that has been Muffin Man Approved!!! Yes that's right Mr. Carson has gave these muffins a thumbs up. As usual these are sneaky muffins which mean I have disguised the muffin with some type of vegetable.

In the past you have heard me talk about how Carson will not eat any vegetables. The only way to get him to eat veggies or beans is to sneak them in where ever I can. Usually that's in muffin form. So around our house Carson is know as "The Muffin Man" I keep hoping he grows out of this, but it seems like we are still stuck in this phase.

Carson is so bad that he can detect the veggies even if I shred them. So what I have to do is puree all the vegetables first and then add them to my muffin recipes. This can be a bit time consuming so every other month I set aside one afternoon to puree all sorts of different veggies and beans.

Then I store them in the freezer. This way I always have some type of vegetable or bean on hand to throw in a Muffin or Brownie recipe. Zucchini Muffins are Carson's favorite so, I always make sure I have some one hand to make at a moments notice. 

If you click on the link for my Zucchini Muffins in that post I showed you how I puree and freeze vegetables to use in muffins and quick breads. It's really a great time saver and the perfect disguise if you have a picky veggie eater like me.

OK back to these wonderful muffins. I had plenty of pureed carrots in the freezer so, muffins it was. I found a recipe for Spiced Carrot Muffins online.
 I did adapted the recipe a bit because the batter was just to bland for my taste. I'm sure the original recipe was good, but I know if I don't like the taste neither will Carson. 

These carrot muffins baked up nicely with a pretty orange tint to them. Which made it perfect for me to disguise them a bit more and call them Pumpkin Muffins. If I told Carson they were Carrot Muffins he wouldn't of touched them. He asked me if he had these muffins before. I told him yes you have this is your favorite pumpkin bread.

Mommy just made them into muffins instead. Carson said I love Pumpkin Muffins so he grabbed one and gobbled it down. Another mission accomplished!!! I think raisins would be a nice addition to this muffin recipe. So next time I want to add raisins to half of the batter.

The batter turns out so pretty and orange in color.

Let cool and enjoy.

Yum.... look how pretty and orange these muffins are. You can see a bit of the carrots but not much.

Spiced Carrot Muffins

Ingredients:
1  3/4 - cups all purpose or whole wheat flour
1/2- cup sugar or applesauce
1/2 - cup brown sugar
2 - teaspoons baking powder
3/4 - teaspoon baking soda
1/2 - teaspoon salt
2 - teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
3/4 - cup plain or Greek yogurt
4 - tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 - teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - large egg
1/4 - cup milk
2 - cups peeled, shredded carrots or
3/4 - cup pureed carrots
1/2 - cup golden raisins, optional

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Line 12 cups of a standard muffin tin with paper liners; set aside. If not using muffin liners spray each muffin tin with baking spray.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, sugars, pumpkin-pie spice, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together yogurt, milk, butter, egg and vanilla. If using pureed carrots add the pureed carrots to the wet ingredients.

If using shredded carrots fold into the batter last. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add yogurt mixture. Stir until just combined. Fold in shredded carrots and raisins if using.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups and bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown or when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

If you want to use less sugar in this muffin recipe you can decrease the sugar amounts to 1/4 cup each.

Cook's Note: You can also use half whole wheat and half all purpose flour.

Recipe adapted from: Marthastewart.com