Carrot Muffins

I love carrot cake.  We had carrot cake as our wedding cake 27 years ago, made by my mother and decorated by her caterer friends.

I also love muffins.  Muffins used to be a special weekend breakfast.  Then we moved to the farm, and now we have muffins all the time.  Muffins are the perfect to-go breakfast, for days when a bowl of cereal seem like just too much cooking to manage before morning chores.  So I bake a dozen muffins before bed, and the next morning is so much easier.

This recipe takes carrots from the garden, adds all the goodies from my mom's carrot cake, and bakes it all into a convenient little package.

Carrot Muffins

1 C whole wheat flour
1 C unbleached flour
1/2 C granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C crushed pineapple, drained
1 C buttermilk (or a mix of milk and yogurt, if you're out of buttermilk)
1/4 C oil
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 C finely shredded carrots
1/2 C chopped walnuts
1/2 C shredded coconut

Preheat the oven to 375.  Spray a 12 cup muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.

In a large bowl, combine the pineapple, buttermilk, oil, egg, and vanilla extract until well blended, Stir in the carrots, walnuts, and coconut.  Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.

Divide the batter evenly into the 12 muffin cups. Bake 20-22 minutes, until the tester says it's done.