Brown sugar and applesauce make these carrot cake muffins come to life. These warm, fluffy muffins are the perfect addition to your spring table!
Carrot Cake Muffins
A few years ago my father-in-law claimed that no cake could ever be better than a slice of carrot cake from a local BBQ joint. So, as you can imagine – what could any baker do other than recipe test and recipe test until they mastered a combination of ingredients that was 10x better than that local carrot cake?! I honestly would beg to differ that the carrot cake he loved so much was really just a spice cake, and it tasted verrrry artificial to me (but sometimes that’s comforting to people).
Throughout all those tests I fell in love with carrot cake and really just the use of carrots in baking. The way they bring so much moisture to the table, but also just that subtle hint of flavor that I love, and the spring fever that I feel when I’m baking with them. I’d love to tell you that my father-in-law loved my carrot cake so much more than the spice cake he found at the BBQ restaurant, but sadly that’s just not the case – and I love it.
Probably the thing I love most about baking and cooking is that everyone – and I mean everyone – has different taste buds. One person could have a specific memory that make some foods taste completely nostalgic, leading them to gravitate more towards some flavors than to others. Another person could have an experience they’re trying to recreate with a food, while some people simply just don’t care what they’re eating as long as it fuels their bodies (my husband lol).
The beauty of food and recipe testing is that you won’t all love the recipes that I’m creating here at Sarah’s Day Off, but I hope you can use them as a jumping off point for your own recipe testing. What a joy it is when you get a recipe exactly the way you want it – there’s nothing like it!
What are Carrot Cake Muffins?
I remember when I was little and thought carrot cake sounded absolutely disgusting. Carrots in a cake?? No thanks, I didn’t even want carrots by themselves. Same thing with zucchini bread or pumpkin pie – in my book, vegetables did not belong in a cake. But when I finally mustered up the courage to try my very own slice of carrot cake a few years later, I realized that it didn’t taste like one giant cooked vegetable – it did indeed taste like cake. Surprise!
One of the best things about baking with carrots is that they bring the perfect amount of moisture and texture to all of my bakes. I’m excited to share these Carrot Cake Muffins with y’all today, because, let’s be honest here – a muffin is really just a cupcake without the frosting lol.
If you love muffins, try these out too!
Equipment you may need…
- Mixing bowls: I love these glass mixing bowls from Amazon. They’re especially perfect for food photography.
- Wooden spoon: I only use wooden spoons and rubber spatulas when I’m baking, and I love these!
- Measuring cups/spoons: I’ve been linking these in all of my posts because I love them SO much! They are beautiful and look just like some other expensive ones on the market (but wayyy cheaper).
- Muffin tin: I always recommend using light-colored bakeware as darker colors have more of a tendency to cause browning on the edges. I love this brand for all of their cookware!
- Cupcake liners: I love buying baking supplies in bulk, that way I feel like I’m never running out!
- 2 oz scoop: this scoops the perfect amount of batter into each muffin cup. I love my muffins to be perfectly uniform, and for that to happen you need to have the same amount of batter in each one!
Ingredients for Carrot Cake Muffins
- All-purpose flour – all of my recipes are tested using King Arthur flours, so I recommend you use the same!
- Baking powder – we use a whopping 1 Tbsp here for added rise.
- Baking soda – reacts with the yogurt to create extra sky-high tops.
- Kosher salt – I use Diamond crystal kosher salt always.
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground nutmeg
- Ground ginger
- Unsalted butter – use salted if that’s all you have, just reduce the salt by 1/2 tsp.
- Vegetable oil – for added mositure
- Granulated sugar
- Brown sugar
- Large eggs – make sure they’re room temp!
- Applesauce
- Pure vanilla extract – you’re welcome to substitute the extract with vanilla bean paste, it’s a 1:1 ratio!
- Heavy cream – kind of an odd ingredient to add to muffins, but the texture and moisture it brings to the table is why we’re throwing it in there!
- Carrots– of course.
- Turbinado sugar – one of my favorite ingredient to sprinkle over just about anything. I love the crunchy top it adds to these muffins!
Tips for these muffins
- Do not overmix the batter. You guys have heard me say this about muffins a million times, but here it is again in case you missed it: muffin batters are meant to be stirred, not beaten. We want the texture of our muffins to be absolute perfection, which happens when we mix the batter just right. Overmixing will cause our muffins to be tough and chewy.
- Let the muffin batter sit at room temperature before baking. This seems like kind of a weird tip, but trust me: if you want your muffin tops to be perfectly domed, the batter needs to sit for a little while. Basically, the batter goes through somewhat of a “proofing” process when it sits at room temperature. The flour has time to moisten, causing more gluten to form, resulting in more structure – which all ends in perfectly domed muffin tops 🙂
- Don’t forget the turbinado! If you want that bakery look, I like to sprinkle turbinado sugar on the tops of the batter before I bake them. The texture of the baked sugar is absolutely delicious!
Ok friends, that’s all for me today. I hope these muffins kickstart you into spring mode like they did for me – and be on the look out for tons of yummy spring recipes to come!
If you bake these muffins be sure to tag me @sarahsdayoff so I can see them!
Love,
Sarah
“Whoever pursues righteousness and unfailing love will find live, righteousness, and honor.” -Proverbs 21:21-
Carrot Cake Muffins
Ingredients
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce at room temperature
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup heavy cream at room temperature
- 1 large or 2 medium carrots thinly grated
- Turbinado sugar
Instructions
- Whisk 2 1/2 cups flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg in a large bowl; set aside.
- Beat butter, oil, and sugar in a medium bowl using a whisk or hand mixer (I use a whisk) until smooth.
- Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in applesauce, vanilla, and heavy cream until smooth.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the dry. Gently fold with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until only a few streaks of flour remain. Do not over mix here!
- Fold in carrots until fully incorporated. Cover batter with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature for at least 1 hour (but up to 4 hours).*
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425°F and line a 12-cup muffin tin with cupcake liners.
- Evenly distribute batter among prepared muffin cups, filling each about 2/3-full. Top each cup with a few more chocolate chips, if desired. Evenly sprinkle each muffin with turbinado sugar.
- Bake muffins 5 minutes at 425°F, reduce the temperature to 375°F, and bake an additional 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are browned and the muffin tops spring back slightly when you press your finger on the tops.
- Allow the muffins to cool 10 minutes in the pan before removing to a wire rack or serving warm. These muffins can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator 2 to 3 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
Notes
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