Carrot Spice Muffins

Some days ago I wanted to bake pumpkin muffins... But when I went to check the piece of pumpkin that I had in my fridge it didn't look very healthy anymore. Can you imagine how I felt? I already had all the other ingredients on my counter, and I really wanted to start baking.

After a few minutes starring into nothing, I opened the fridge and the pantry to check if I had something else I could use, but nothing seemed as perfect as the pumpkin. But finally in the drawer where I keep the vegetables I found carrots, and my soul felt happy again.

I decided I was going to adapt the recipe of the pumpkin muffins. In the end it worked out great! That's why I'm sharing this recipe. I love these type of muffins to eat while drinking tea or coffee, and they're great now that days are colder.

I'll make a post with the recipe for the pumpkin muffins later, but I don't have any photos for now, so it will have to wait.

Oh, before I forget: these muffins are vegan. No eggs, no dairy. You can addapt your own way at home, but I'm really getting used to cook desserts and sweet without using these items.

Carrot Spice Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup of spelt flour

1 cup of carrot puree
Half a cup of muscavado sugar
Half a cup of organic sugar
Half of a carrot, grated

3 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger

Half teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon yeast
Half a cup of milk (I used almond milk)
Half a cup of olive oile
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The frosting is optional. I chose this one because I thought the hazelnuts would combine really well with the flavour of the carrot. 

The ingredients are:
Half of a cup of crushed hazelnuts
75 g of vegan margarine
1 cup muscavado sugar

In the end I had 16 muffins

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 220ºC (around 430ºF)
2. In a bowl, mix the flour, the yeast, the two types of sugar, the salt, the cinnamon and the ginger.
3. After that, add the carrot puree, the vanilla extract, the milk and the olive oil.

4. When the mixture is smooth and creamy, add the grated carrot.

5. Divide butter evenly amoung the muffins tins, filling 2/3 of each muffin tin like I did, or all the way full if you want big muffins. 

6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean.

Frosting:

1. Heat up the margarine on low heat until it melts.

2. Add the sugar while stirring continuously, and after that add the hazelnuts.

3. Let it cook until it starts to caramelize. Be careful because if it's too dark it can get too hard.

That's it. Enjoy!