Low Calorie Carrot Cake Muffins

Don’t let the long list of ingredients scare you away from making these delicious and healthy muffins, because surprisingly you most likely already have almost all of these ingredients in your pantry! These tasty treats are just like mini carrots cakes, but in bite sized portions, so therefore are easily portable and can help with portion control! How wonderful is that?!? However…I am warning you, because they are small it is so much easier to sit down and literally polish off 10 of these in row, they are just so good! Give them a try for yourself, I know that you will love them!

Ingredients:

Muffins

• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/4 cup shredded carrots (4-5 carrots)
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Frosting (optional and not too healthy, but so incredibly delicious and a nice treat for on top!)

• 1/2 cup reduced fat cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1-2 tsp unsweetened almond milk

Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line your muffin pan with muffin cups, or spray the muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray, or coat with a thin layer of butter/margarine.
2. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Set aside for now.
3. In a large bowl combine the carrots, maple syrup, melted coconut oil, apple sauce, egg and vanilla. Stir to evenly combine.
4. Slowly add almond milk and the flour mixture into the large bowl of wet ingredients. Stir to evenly combine.
5. Fold in the nuts and raisins.
6. Pour the muffin batter into the muffins cups or into the sprayed muffin pans and bake for 18-20 min, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre, comes out clean.

7. Take muffins out of the pan 10 minutes after coming out of the oven, and allow them to cool on a wire rack .

8. While the muffins are cooling prepare your icing, by mixing all ingredients together (I used my KitchenAid mixer for this) until you get to a smooth, thick and creamy consistency. Once the muffins have cooled add a small dollop of frosting to each.

***These muffins keep very well in  both the fridge and freezer 🙂

Enjoy,

Brigitte

PS. Adapted from AmbitiousKitchen.com