A couple of days ago, I put out this post:
Well, I’ve finally gotten my act together and it’s time to share with you the tastiest wicked healthy muffin I’ve ever put into my mouth. If you don’t believe me, here’s what some of my friends had to say:
What’s not to love!
I ate one for breakfast for 4 straight days accompanied with fresh juice (cucumber, lemon, apple, carrot) I’m on a kick of that flavor combo lately…so refreshing! and of course eaten with a glob of peanut butter on every bite. Mmmmm! 🙂
Wicked Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup wheat germ
- 1 tablespoon flax seeds
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 1/3 cups skim milk
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups grated carrots (3-5 medium carrots)
- 1 ripe banana
- 3/4 cup raisins
How-To
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Set aside a 12-cup muffin pan
out, lined with paper liners and sprayed with cooking spray.
- In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon together (dry ingredients). Set aside.
- In another bowl, quickly beat together the wheat germ, flax seeds, chia seeds, skim milk, olive oil, and eggs and let sit for 5 minutes (wet ingredients).
- In yet another bowl, mash the banana and vanilla extract together. Stir in the grated carrot (filling ingredients).
- Pour the filling ingredients onto the wet ingredients and stir.
- Pour the filling and wet mixture onto the dry ingredients and stir. Don’t over stir.
- Fold in the raisins.
- Evenly spoon the batter into the 12 muffin liners that have been sprayed with cooking spray. There should be enough batter to fill to the top.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until light brown and a cake tester
comes out clean.
- Let cool for 2 minutes and transfer the muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Best served with butter, jam, or peanut butter.
Servings: 12 muffins
These look wicked yummy too 🙂
Of course a glob of peanut butter on every bite, naturally 😉 Is there any other way?
Yum! I’d leave out the raisins and eat way too many of these:-)
Wow! They DO look wicked. A must try. Where can u get chia seeds?
Well, the brand I buy is on that link in the ingredients in the recipe (amazon.com). And locally I buy them at my favorite organic food stores: Earthfare, Whole foods, etc. 🙂
ooooh, carrot cake. Don’t get started on carrot cake….
Love these and that you used Chia seeds in them. Yum!
I love healthy muffins for a good breakfast treat. These look amazing!
Wow! Those are wicked healthy! I’m bookmarking these for future use! Thanks, friend!!!
Yay – I’m so sick of looking for “healthy” muffin recipes that I can enjoy for breakfast, only to find that they all have sugar or syrup or honey in them! Looking forward to try this recipe, they look ah-mazing.
I’ve never met a muffin I didn’t like, but I am in LOVE with the grey/yellow linens…they are so pretty!
Hmm I wonder how a gluten-free flour blend would work in this? Looks like another recipe to test, this looks great!
Those are so healthy! And they look delicious. Saving these to try 😀
oooo these look SO tasty!
Oh my – these look awesome! Great photos too – loving the grey and yellow!!
Yum!! Love it! I would normally want them covered in cream cheese frosting, but peanut butter sounds great, too! 😉
I love that you used chia seeds in these, those are my current obsession!
these indeed would make a great breakfast. and with a glob of peanut butter on each bite the sun is shining on my street!
These are exactly what I need in the morning! Thanks so much!
I will definitely have to experiment with a gluten-free version of these muffins. They look fabulous and love your photos too! Oh, and globs on peanut butter on ’em? Count me in!
These were SO delicious! I can’t believe there is NO added sugar! The wheat germ and flax seeds (didn’t have any chia seeds, so I just doubled the flax) and carrots added such a great texture. I didn’t have skim milk so I substituted organic vanilla soy milk, and it turned out lovely – I even left the regular vanilla measurement at 1t. I love raisins, so I put in 1 generous cup of raisins as opposed to 3/4 c. The banana flavor was barely there (which I thought was perfect for these muffins). Next time I am going to put in chopped walnuts. I’m also going to try it once with fresh blueberries. These definitely look and taste healthy — but they are absolutely delicious at the same time! They don’t burn your throat from loads of sugar and send you into a carb coma like regular muffins. Thank you for feeding my obsessions of healthy foods and baked goods simultaneously!!
love that u have made it healthy! but id totally do the same with pb blob 🙂
these muffins look A-mazing! can’t wait to give them a try!
i have them baking in the oven right now and they smell delicious! 6 minutes and 27 seconds to breakfast!
Love it! I hope you have an excellent breakfast! 🙂
Made these yesterday and they’re sooooooo tasty, I can’t stop eating them!! Can’t say I’ve been tempted to try with peanut butter as I wouldn’t want to detract from the gorgeous subtle flavours in the muffin. I Love how wholesome they taste and that they just have a hint of natural sweetness. They are perfect for breakfast! I’ll definitely be making them again for busy periods when I don’t have enough time to make a healthy breakfast each morning.
I didn’t have any flax or chia seeds so I just used a seed mix (sunflower, pumpkin, hemp, linseed) which worked well and gave lots of nice variety in texture. I did find that they turned out a little ‘eggy’ in texture, so I will try using smaller eggs next time, also I had to turn my oven up a bit higher and bake them for over 30 minutes. Maybe my oven’s just rubbish though!
These look deeeelish and I can’t wait to try them! Wondering if you’ve tried these as a cake? Trying to find a good carrot cake recipe for my sister’s bday!
I’ve never tried it as a cake, but let me know if it turns out, if you do! 🙂
I have been on Cleanse for 11 days and today I’m breakindown and making your Carrot muffins today. They smell sooo good so far.
We have been traveling cross country since March and landed in near Asheville. Not too far from you.
I look forward to making more of your yummy healthy receipes!!
Danielle
Oh wow…you are close! 😀 At least these muffins are pretty-darn healthy! 😀 Happy Baking Danielle!
these were supa dupa yum!!! I left out the raisins & they were still fab – next time I will add a little more banana since my son likes it just a tad bit sweeter!
thanks for sharing!
~dee
I am in love with your site!! The second I saw these muffins I ran to the kitchen and made them! Yum!!! I think next time I will add a few more raisins to sweeten it up a little more.
AND…my kids gobbled them up too. When the little ones like something this healthy we are super good shape. Can’t wait to try some other recipes you have on here 🙂
Aww, thank you Nicole! 😀 You are so sweet! I’m so glad your kids liked them muffins! They are so good! 😀
What are the calories, fat, and protein per muffin?
I did a rough estimate with an online calculator and it says that each muffin has about 203 calories, 8.8 grams of fat, and 7.4 grams of protein. I hope that helps! 😀
Thanks!
Is there anything I can substitute for chia seeds? Or could I omit them?
Feel free to just omit them…I just added them for nutritional value. 🙂 Happy Baking!
I was so excited to see these have no added sugar, I had to make them. They came out great. The only tweaks I made; 1/3 c applesauce for the oil and I added one ripe grated pear to the wet filling (because I *had* to use it in something, it was too ripe to eat 🙂 ). My three year old son gobbled his down. Thanks for the recipe.
Oh and I did cut down the raisins to 1/2 cup and added some chopped walnuts.
I just made these. They are SO GOOD, much better than I expected sugar-free muffins would be. I would probably try to use extra-sweet carrots and a very very ripe banana next time. Just to add a bit more sweet.
Can the oil be replaced with applesauce? If so how much? Thanks
I’m not sure. I bet it would be fine. You’d have to experiment, but I’d start out with the same amount of applesauce as you would have oil. Happy Baking!
I did a 1:1 substitution for the oil with unsweetened applesauce and we loved the results!
This were wonderful. Incredible moist. The raisins add just the right amount of sweetness. I used coconut oil instead of olive oil, probably would cut it down to 1/4 cup next time.
These are delicious for being so healthy! They really rely on the raisins for sweetness in every bite, so incorporate them in well 🙂 I might caramelize the banana next time for added sweetness. And they go great with PB (as recommended) or a slather of natural jam!
Some notes that may be helpful for others:
-I didn’t have wheat germ so I did some googling and subbed in 2/3 cup oat bran and 1/3 cup flaxseed meal (omitting the 1T flaxseed in the original recipe)
-I used a combo of spelt and whole wheat pastry which worked fine — this is a very forgiving recipe!
-I reduced the oil to 1/4 cup with no damage done to the final product
-I ended up with 15 muffins
Thanks for the recipe! x
These are absolutely DIVINE!
I made a double batch to share with friends with a couple modifications.
I didn’t have much wheat germ, so I substituted half with ground flax meal.
I didn’t have flax seeds, so I doubled the chia seeds.
Also didn’t have enough raisins (probably should have planned ahead) so I also added in some craisins.
Also didn’t have any cupcake liners (seriously.. I was not prepared to make muffins) so I cut up some parchment paper and made my own bakery-style liners !
Haha…I’m glad you are such a great adapter! All of your substitutions/additions sound amazing! You’re so crafty, too! 🙂
Thanks so much