Awesome Recipe Alert: Banana Carrot Muffins

I am so excited about these muffins!!!  I have never combined banana and carrot before and I only wish I had tried this sooner!  We have friends coming over tonight, and three are already packaged up as presents.  Yes, they are that good.  This recipe relies on the bananas and the carrots for flavor.  They are moist, tasty and filling, but not overly oily or sweet.  Tomorrow I’ll have one before a long workout… beyond that I predict these will be gone by Friday!

Ingredients: Dry

– 1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

– 1 Cup All Purpose Flour

– 1 Tsp Baking Powder

– 1 Tsp Baking Soda

– 1/2 Tsp Salt

– 2 Tsp Cinnamon

– 1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Walnuts

Ingredients: Wet

– 3 Ripe Bananas

– 1 Cup Finely Shredded Carrots (3-4 Carrots, Depending on Size)

– 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce

– 2 Eggs

– 1 Tsp Vanilla

– 1/4 Cup Coconut Oil

– 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

Steps:

– Preheat oven to 325 Degrees F.

– Prep a muffin or mini-loaf tin with liners or non-stick spray.  I used non-stick spray (sprayable coconut oil) in my non-stick mini-loaf pan and I’m glad I did, they would have for sure stuck without the spray.

– Measure the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and whisk to throughly combine.

– In a separate bowl, mash the bananas with the back of a fork.  One press of the fork per banana piece will do it.

– Add the carrots, eggs, vanilla, applesauce, brown sugar and coconut oil to the bananas.  The coconut oil should be in liquid state – if necessary, melt it over low heat before adding.

– Punch your whisk through the egg yolks, then stir with the whisk until throughly mixed but no more.

– Pour the wet ingredients into the dry bowl, using a rubber spatula to get every last drop.

– Gently stir the dry and wet mixtures with a heavy spoon until incorporated.

– Spoon the batter into your muffin/mini-loaf tin.

– Bake at 325 for 30 minutes, or a few longer until a knife strategically inserted into a crevice in the crust comes out clean.

Tell me you love these!

Btw:

– For the carrots, I used the fine side of a box grater, vs the shredding side.  This creates a very fine texture for the carrots, which allows them to integrate throughly throughout the batter, vs floating as individual shreds.   The flavor is better, and the texture of the muffins is fluffier.  A micro-plane also works well here.

– Re the applesauce – these single serve packs are scant 1/2 a cup each.  Having them on hand for baking allows you to save a stitch in time (which you can put towards finely grating the carrots) since you can skip the measuring step.  I used them in the recipe and the quantity was perfect.