Carrot Raisin Bran Muffins...YUM!

     I was craving carrot cake the other day and wondered how I could make it healthier since I've been baking altogether WAY too many goodies lately. I went to the store last night to pick up some wheat gluten and saw that Hodgson Mill makes a bran muffin mix. So far they have a pretty good track record with me so I figured I'd give it a try and while I was at it dress it up a bit to taste like carrot cake.
     The box had some pretty good ideas for mix-ins so it was a pretty customizable box-mix. The box also called for an egg and 1/2 cup of milk but I used 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, and for the egg I used Ener-G egg replacer- but I think flax seed meal would work well with this mix and give it a nice hint of nutty flavor. To dress it up I added 1/2 cup of finely grated carrot and 1/4 cup raisins, 1 tsp. vanilla extract, and some cinnamon. The results were exactly what I had been aiming for. It tasted like a healthy grainy not-as-sweet version of carrot cake (without the icing of course, but you could easily use some vegan cream cheese like Tofutti better than cream cheese as a spread for a healthier alternative to cream cheese icing). The mix has sugar in it so I didn't add any, but if this isn't sweet enough for you, you can always add a little brown sugar or a teensy bit of maple syrup. Here's the recipe:


Preaheat your oven to 400° F and grease your muffin pan (don't use paper muffin cups because the muffins will stick to the paper). Mix ingredients till combined and spoon batter evenly into muffin pan. Bake for approximately 15 minutes (may take a few minutes more or less depending on your oven and how much stuff you add in to the batter). Makes about 6 muffins.