Carrot Cake Muffins
These carrot cake muffins have all the goodness of a carrot cake in bite-size pieces. Perfect for breakfast, brunch, or quick snacks. These are light and airy, but not overly sweet. Made with grated carrots, nuts, and dates.
These are the breakfast muffins that mom used to make on weekends. The truth is, we never knew that there were carrots inside. Since they were finely grated. And, the chopped pecans and sweetness of the dates made these so delicious we didn’t care about anything else. Also, don’t you just love those wonderful domes on the top?
About these muffins
These are going to be your new favorite muffins for breakfast. And, if you have guests over, make these and they will be raving over how delicious they are.
The secret to keeping these muffins moist is to grate the carrots fine. So, I use not the finest or the largest, but somewhere in between. Can you see how light and airy these muffins are? See those big airy holes?
Also, I am using chopped dates. And yet, other fruits such as dried cranberries, raisins, figs, and apricots work great too. We love pecans, but walnuts also make a great addition to carrot muffins. In addition, the process and timeline for these muffins are also fairly simple, easy and quick.
- Grate the carrots and combine dry ingredients – 5 minutes
- Prepare batter – 5 minutes
- Bake the muffin – 20 mins
Ingredients and substitutes
- All-purpose flour – All-purpose flour works best with this recipe. So, you do not need any cake flour or self-rising flour.
- Sugar – I’m using white sugar. And yet, brown sugar works just as well.
- Sour cream – Gives the muffin a soft crumb. I am using homemade sour cream today. And, if you don’t have sour cream, yogurt is a good substitute for sour cream in baking.
- Carrots – Use medium carrots, not too large not too small. And, grate them fine using the smaller not large side of the grater.
- Egg – I am using one large egg. But, you can also use 1/4 cup yogurt to make these eggless carrot cake muffins.
- Spices – I’m using warm ground ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. In winter, you can also use pumpkin spice and gingerbread spice. I also love a dash of garam masala in my carrot muffins.
Carrot cake muffins
- Preheat the oven to 325℉/ 165℃/ Gas Mark 5
- Dry ingredients – Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- Fruit/Nuts – Add 2 tbsp of the flour mixture to the dates and toss them well. Then, combine the fruit and nuts and set aside.
Pro tip – the flour will prevent the dates from clumping together in the batter. - Whip – In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment whip the egg for a minute. Then gradually add the sugar and continue to whip until light and fluffy.
- Wet ingredients – Gradually add the oil to the egg mixture, followed by sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract.
- Combine – Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients followed by the fruit and nut mixture. Combine well but do not overmix.
Pro tip – overmixing the batter with fruit and nuts will cause them to sink to the bottom of the batter.
- Bake – Divide the batter between 12 muffins cups. Transfer to the oven on the center rack and bake for 18 to 20 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean.
Pro tip – if using a fan oven rotate the muffin pan halfway to prevent a slanted dome. - Cool on the wire rack for 5 minutes before serving.
These will stay at room temperature for 2 to 3 days.
And, if you need to store them for longer, I highly recommend freezing them rather than placing them in the fridge.
Then, thaw them in the microwave from frozen as the condensation helps to keep them moist.
Absolutely. You can also add 4 tbsp more sugar as these are less sweet than cupcakes. Then, bake these in cupcake liners. Cool completely, and then frost them with your favorite frosting, such as cream cheese frosting. In addition, see my 30 plus buttercream frosting recipes.
Yes, these muffins freeze beautifully. I bake and cool them completely. Then, I place them in my silicon storage bags and into the freezer. They will last for 2 to 3 months.
You mustn’t use pre-shredded carrots from the supermarket. These tend to dry out like little sticks in the finished cake, cupcakes, or muffins. Instead, grate the carrots fresh and your muffins will be sweet moist, and delicious. Use the fine not the larger size of the grater. This will give you a moist and tender carrot flavor.
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Easiest Carrot Cake Muffins
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Conversions Used
1 lb = 453 grams, 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 stick = 113g, 1 tbsp= 15 ml, 1 tsp= 5 ml,
Ingredients
Dry ingredients
- 1 ½ cup (190 g) All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Baking soda
- ¼ tsp Salt
- ½ tsp Cinnamon powder
- ¼ tsp Ginger (ground)
- ¼ tsp Nutmeg Fresh grated
Wet ingredients
- 1 Egg (large)
- ¼ cup (55 g) Brown sugar
- ¼ cup (4 tbsp) Cooking oil
- ¼ cup (4 tbsp) Sour cream or yogurt
- 2 cups Carrots (finely grated)
- ¼ cup (4 tbsp) Milk
- ½ cup Pecans (chopped)
- ½ cup Dates (chopped)
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325℉/ 165℃/ Gas Mark 5
- Dry ingredients – Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
- Fruit/Nuts – Add 2 tbsp of the flour mixture to the dates and toss them well. Then, combine the fruit and nuts and set aside. Pro tip – the flour will prevent the dates from clumping together in the batter.
- Whip – In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment whip the egg for a minute. Then gradually add the sugar and continue to whip until light and fluffy.
- Wet ingredients – Gradually add the oil to the egg mixture, followed by the sour cream, milk and vanilla extract.
- Combine – Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients followed by the fruit and nut mixture. Combine well but do not overmix. Pro tip – overmixing the batter with fruit and nuts will cause them to sink to the bottom of the batter.
- Bake – Divide the batter between 12 muffins cups. Transfer to the oven on the center rack and bake for 18 to 20 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center comes clean. Pro tip – if using a fan oven rotate the muffin pan halfway to prevent a slanted dome.
- Cool on the wire rack for 5 minutes before serving.
Recipe Notes & Tips
Carrots for carrot cakes and muffins
This is important so I want to make a special note.- Look for tender juicy carrots.
- Don’t use carrots that have been lying around in the fridge for days (the fridge tends to dry things out)
- Use medium size not large carrots, not too small.
- Never use pre-grated carrots that come in the supermarket. These tend to dry out like little sticks in the finished cake, cupcakes, or muffins.
- Instead, grate the carrots fresh and your muffins will be sweet moist, and delicious.
- Use the fine not the larger size of the grater. This will give your moist and tender carrot flavor.
This is my basic muffin recipe for all my oil-based muffins.
- You can replace 1/2 cup grated carrots with chopped pineapple for a carrot pineapple muffins
- You can replace 1 cup grated carrots with grated squeezed zucchini
- Add 1/2 cup white chocolate chips for a carrot cake muffins with white chocolate chips
- To create a bakery-style carrot cake muffins with a cracked dome on top add 1/2 tsp more baking powder, bake the muffins at 200 C / 392 F for 5 minutes then reduce the temperature to 190 C/ 374 F for the remaining time. The initial high heat gives these cupcakes a nice burst.
Nutrition Information
The nutrition information and metric conversion are calculated automatically. I cannot guarantee its accuracy. If this data is important to you please verify with your trusted nutrition calculator. Thank you
You forgot to include the milk in your instructions
Hey Barb, I just changed the language so now it should be added with the sour cream thanks.
Veena, made these muffins this morning…really lovely, thanks for sharing…love all your recipes
Thank you so much, Teresa. So happy you are enjoying my recipes