If you’re looking for a healthy way to start your day (and the New Year!), these muffins are for you.
What could be better than starting your day with veggies in cake form, right? Or if evening is your temptation time, these muffins are also perfect for satisfying a strong craving for sweets at the end of a long day. They rival most carrot cakes I’ve had; carrot and apple lend moistness to these muffins, and the toasted walnuts add the perfect crunch.
If you’re trying to find creative ways to sneak vegetables into your family, give these a try. All people see is a plate full of Carrot Cake Muffins, but they’re actually getting something that’s pretty nourishing.
Here’s to a healthy New Year!
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 large egg
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, lightly packed (or coconut sugar)
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil (or canola oil)
- ⅔ cup reduced-fat milk (or dairy-free "milk" alternative)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (lightly packed) shredded carrot (about 2 medium carrots)
- 1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and chopped small (about 1 heaping cup chopped apple)
- ½ cup toasted walnuts, chopped
- Preheat oven to 400F; line a muffin tray with paper liners.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg in a medium bowl; set aside.
- Whisk together the egg, brown sugar, coconut oil, milk, and vanilla extract in a large bowl.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet all at once and use a wooden spoon to stir until combined, being careful not to over-mix. Fold in the carrot, apple, and walnuts.
- Spoon the batter into the muffin tray and bake until a toothpick inserted inside comes out clean or with just a couple crumbs, about 20 to 25 minutes.
Update (October 21, 2014): I made this dish again and perfected the recipe so I updated this post. As a point of comparison to show how much my photography has evolved, I kept one of my original photos (below).
I’m Faith Gorsky, the writer, cook, and photographer behind An Edible Mosaic. My goal is to inspire you to get in the kitchen and try something new! Feel free to 
lostpastremembered says
January 3, 2010 at 9:45 amThese look so good! The chunks of apple and nuts… healthy too!
Jen says
January 3, 2010 at 10:52 amI love these! Perfect to grab on the way out the door. I will definitely be making them!
nora@ffr says
January 3, 2010 at 11:15 amOh My, that looks as good as the name makes it sound…. so pretty and delicious!
Heavenly Housewife says
January 3, 2010 at 12:14 pmDelicious. I love any kind of carrot cakey stuff :D
donna says
January 3, 2010 at 1:42 pmOh, carrot cake sandwich cookies are my favorite, so I know I would thoroughly enjoy these. Awesome recipe!
grace says
January 3, 2010 at 1:56 pmcarrot cake with cream cheese frosting is one of my favorite splurges. with these muffins, i can get most of that decadence but with absolutely none of the guilt! great creation, faith. :)
coco says
January 3, 2010 at 5:02 pmI’d love to start my day with these muffins…. they look really yummy~~~ OMG~~~ can you send one over here? I’m about to have breakfast! ;)
Erica says
January 3, 2010 at 5:23 pmI would love those with a cup of black coffee.
Selba says
January 3, 2010 at 5:36 pmNice muffin and really good to start a day… also a new year :)
Reeni says
January 3, 2010 at 8:12 pmI love muffins for breakfast! What a delicious combo of carrots and apples. These look really good!
Joanne says
January 4, 2010 at 4:57 amMmmm these muffins look super healthy and super delicious! And if you add cream cheese frosting, you’ll be getting your dairy in too! (At least that’s what I’ll tell myself.)
Krista says
January 4, 2010 at 8:56 amThe muffins look great! I bet your house smelled pretty lush with these babies around. The recipe also reminded me that I’m out of nutmeg! :0
Mimi says
January 4, 2010 at 9:20 amYum! Great way to start the day.
Mimi
Lucy says
January 4, 2010 at 11:15 amWhat a fabulous way to start the morning! These look so delicious, I can never resist carrot cake.
Blond Duck says
January 4, 2010 at 12:08 pmI’m making these for my mom. She’s on a diet and LOVES carrot cake.
Rosa says
January 4, 2010 at 12:10 pmThey look irresistible! A great way to start the week!
Cheers,
Rosa
pigpigscorner says
January 4, 2010 at 12:33 pmMy new year resolution is to bake less fattening stuff, this sounds great!
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella says
January 4, 2010 at 3:27 pmAhh this is much healthier than the cream cheese frosting cake version Faith! Thankyou for that and this will help me in my NY resolution! Hope 2010 has started of well for you! :D
Juliana says
January 4, 2010 at 4:13 pmOh! These carrot cake muffins look delicious…indeed a great way to start the new year!
Veronica says
January 4, 2010 at 8:34 pmOh, this would make a wonderful change of pace for breakfast! I calculated (on recipes.sparkpeople.com) that each muffin is 211 cal, which ain’t too shabby! I’m going to be making these soon.
Natasha - 5 Star Foodie says
January 4, 2010 at 8:44 pmI love the idea of carrot cake muffins, yum! Your new blog is looking good!
Karine says
January 5, 2010 at 5:40 amThese look amazing! Great and healthy way to start the day :)
Barabara Bakes says
January 5, 2010 at 6:59 amDelicious and healthy – sounds like a perfect combination to me!
Nutmeg Nanny says
January 5, 2010 at 8:11 amYou always make the best breakfast foods! Since I’m a huge fan of carrot cake I will be giving these a try…yum!
chaya says
January 6, 2010 at 5:09 pmI love the new look and the carrot muffins.
The blog has a nice clean look. I love the lines.
The carrot muffins have great lines also. I am just about to print them up.
Veronica M. says
January 22, 2010 at 3:10 pmI finally FINALLY got around to baking these today. They’ve been on my to do list since the day you posted it! I really, really liked them–not overly sweet and the crumb is really moist and tender. I did use all-purpose flour in place of 1/2 cup of the whole wheat to improve the texture. It might not have been necessary, but I’m very pleased with the result. I also mixed an ounce of neufchatel cheese with 1 1/2 tsp honey and used that to glaze them. It wasn’t necessary but only added 10 calories to each muffin and made them pretty! Thanks for the great recipe–I will be reposting it!
admin says
January 22, 2010 at 3:24 pmVeronica, Yay, I’m so glad you liked them! Your version sounds fantastic with that glaze!
Daphne says
August 24, 2010 at 12:37 amJust made these. They are quite good :) Thanks for the recipe.
Nomi says
January 26, 2011 at 7:18 pmI made these muffins yesterday, and they were really good!
They’re not very sweet, which is good however because I don’t like eating muffins that tastes extremely sweet. Thank you for posting the recipe :).
admin says
January 26, 2011 at 9:59 pmNomi, I’m so glad you enjoyed the muffins! Thanks so much for letting me know, you made my day! :)