Coconut Carrot Muffins

There is something almost spiritual about growing your own garden and eating the fruits of your labor. The satisfaction of creating something from dirt and seeds and hard work is indescribable.

After all your careful planting, watering and weeding, praying for more rain, praying for less rain, coaxing of small sprouts to stay strong despite windy gusts, and fighting off bugs without using toxic chemicals, you walk out to your garden one day with a basket to harvest the bright, plump fruits and tender, fresh vegetables. And you know this is the crowning achievement of all your work. You, the gardener, have done what few others ever do ? grow your own food.

Although I strongly believe that homegrown food need not be tinkered with to make it a delicious meal, I?m not the biggest fan of eating raw carrots, although the ones I harvested did look mighty tasty on their own.

So, for those of you who are in agreement with my views on raw carrots, I offer you the three (technically, four) recipes I found and used for making the best use of my homegrown carrots.

To begin…

When I pulled those bright orange root vegetables out of the soil and contemplated their futures, it should come as no surprise that I instantly thought: Carrot Muffins. (Oh, how I do love muffins!) But, these are not just any carrot muffins. These wonderful bundles of goodness have walnuts and perhaps some magic (aka coconut).

I found this recipe on a cute, little blog titled For the Love of Cooking, which also had photos (Yay!). Well, the photos won me over, and I ended up making three batches of these muffins on three separate occasions because they were such a smashing success with the people I shared them with (the most voracious fan, not surprisingly, being a pregnant friend of mine).

However, even if your carrots are store-bought and not pulled from the earth by your own hands, you can make these tasty muffins, perfect for tucking into your lunch sack or nibbling on as a post-dinner snack.

1/2 c. walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

2 c. grated raw carrot (about 2-3 peeled carrots)

1 large apple, peeled and grated

2 c. flour

1 1/4 c. white sugar

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Pinch of ground nutmeg

1 c. coconut (divided)

3 large eggs

3/4 c. canola oil

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place rack in center of oven. Coat the muffin tray in cooking spray.

2. Toast the walnuts for about 5-7 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then chop coarsely.



3. Peel and finely grate the carrots and apple. (Tip: Use a food processor to make this step faster rather than grating them all by hand.)



4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in the nuts and half of the coconut. Set aside.

5. In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, and vanilla extract. (Tip: I found that I only needed ¼ cup of oil, which cut fat without sacrificing moistness.)

6. Fold the wet ingredients, along with the grated carrot and apple, into the flour mixture, stirring just until moistened.

7. Pour evenly into prepared muffin tray and top with remaining coconut.

8. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Notes: I found that the cooking time for these muffins was actually much longer than the time the recipe called for. This may have been due to the type of muffin tin I was using (heart shaped ceramic one), since the time was less with my metal tin. Let the toothpick test be your guide and, as always, give yourself plenty of time to make these in case you

need to cook them longer.

I’ll be posting the second of the four recipes tomorrow, but until then, go fetch yourself some carrots!