We didn’t do a frosting or glaze, because the recipe was so good on its own, it didn’t need anything in addition. These were only slightly sweet – even though carrot cake functions like a muffin recipe normally (so sayeth Alton), this recipe is not just carrot cake made in muffin tins. It’s less sweet and contains whole wheat flour (unless you happen to not have any on hand, which we did not).
This recipe was only very slightly modified from the New York Times Recipes for Health.
You will need:
Ingredients
- 21/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground allspice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup buttermilk (I didn’t have any – subbed milk + 1 Tbsp. vinegar)
- 11/3 cup buttermilk
- 1 tsp raisin, tossed with 1 tbsp flour
- 2/3 cup grated carrot
- 11/2 cup carrots
Directions
Ingredient note: The original called for whole wheat – these muffins were the perfect consistency with AP – if you go with whole wheat I would add a little more milk and a little more baking soda
As with all muffin recipes, this one uses “The Muffin Method.” Use a whisk to gently mix together the wet ingredients wand the sugar. Stir the dry ingredients together separately (excluding the carrots and raisins).
Add the liquid to the solid all at once, and stir as little as possible to combine. I recommend using a large whisk and stirring no more than 5-10 big strokes. When all of the flour has been worked into the liquid, add the carrots and raisins and gently fold in – it should take fewer than five more stirs to blend it together.
Pour into a well-greased muffin tin and bake at 375 for exactly 25 minutes. You can double-check if you want (or if your oven is historically funky), but this made mine totally perfect.
The recipe will make 15 smaller muffins, or if you like them to be a little bigger, the batter will all fit into 12 muffin tins and doesn’t expand enough that it would be a problem.
