With the weather gorgeous and school ending, we are ready to be outside. These oh-so-tender little morning muffins are a great grab-and-go to get you there. They taste like a cross between carrot cake and zucchini bread—for good reason: They’re packed with cinnamon, apple, carrot, zucchini, toasted nuts and fresh squeezed orange juice—and they’re made with organic whole wheat flour, which is high-protein, to boot. P.S. This is a great way to use up that extra apple, zucchini and half-bag of mini carrots you’ve got hanging around.
Ingredients
- Makes 2 dozen muffins
- ½ cup walnuts or pecans
- ½ cup Thompson seedless raisins
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground Saigon cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 1/3 cup pecan meal (good source is GuidryOrganicFarms.com or villagefarmstand.com)
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- Ready-to-eat peeled baby carrots (about ½ bag) pulsed in a food processor to make 2 cups finely grated
- 1 zucchini, washed, skin on, pulsed in a food processor to make 1 ½ cups finely grated
- 1-inch fresh ginger, finely grated
- 1 apple, peeled, cored and chopped small
- 3 large eggs, briefly beaten
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup fresh squeezed orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375. Place nuts on a cookie sheet and toast for about 10 minutes, until fragrant. Chop nuts. Set aside. Place raisins in a small bowl; pour enough boiling water over the raisins to cover. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, sift whole wheat flour with soda, cinnamon, salt and pecan meal. Add brown sugar and whisk the sugar into the flour, breaking up until no small clumps remain.
- In the bowl of a food processor, using short pulses, pulse carrots and then zucchini until finely grated. Add vegetables to the dry ingredients. Drain and discard the liquid from the plumped raisins; add raisins. Add grated ginger, chopped apple, beaten eggs, vegetable oil and orange juice. Stir until all ingredients are incorporated and no flour streaks remain.
- Fit a 12-muffin tin with paper muffin-cup liners, each sprayed with non-stick vegetable spray. Fill muffin cups just a little under full with batter. Bake in 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes until firm to the touch. Serve immediately, spread with butter.
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