Brown Sugar Carrot Almond Muffins

Photo Courtesy of Brad Lovejoy

Oh, boy. For the second week in a row, it is Thursday night and I am just getting started on my weekly quota of recipes. The good news is, I completed my first recipe tonight and it was delicious. The bad news is, I have two more to go and not a clue as to what they will be. Looks like it will be a surprise to everyone; including me. I do have a few mangoes and avocados sitting in the kitchen so maybe I will find a salad that incorporates these two ingredients. Better yet, maybe I will find a recipe that incorporates mangoes, avocado and arugula since I have ample arugula waiting to be plucked from my garden. This is a decision for tomorrow or Saturday so I will now focus on the recipe at hand.

Tonight I baked Brown Sugar Carrot Almond Muffins from one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks. The recipe was fun to make because I don't often have time to bake. The best part however, was that my sweet Olivia acted as my baking assistant. She was over the moon to help measure ingredients and stir them together. Remember when pleasures were as simple as helping our mom's bake? My mom was quite a baker, especially when it came to jelly rolls, cinnamon rolls and pies. I have beautiful memories of helping her roll out dough with a wooden rolling pin and then delicious memories of eating the end products. She truly poured love into everything she made. It absolutely warmed my heart to be sharing the same experience with Olivia.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) cold butter

1 egg

3/4 cup fruit juice (like orange or apple) or milk

1 Tbsp minced or grated orange or lemon zest (I used orange zest)

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1 cup grated carrots

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease or oil muffin tin (I prefer to use Canola oil). Stir dry ingredients together. Cut butter into bits, then use fork or 2 knives to cut into dry ingredients until there are no pieces bigger than a small pea. (Using a food processor makes this step quite easy but don't use food processor for remaining steps or dough will be tough).

Beat together juice, zest and egg. Pour into dry ingredients, mixing just enough to moisten; do not beat and do not mix until batter is smooth. Fold in carrots and almonds, then pour and spoon batter into muffin tin.

Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on rack for 15 minutes before removing from muffin tin.

In a nutshell, I highly recommend this recipe for snacks or breakfast. The muffins are dense, moist and flavorful without being overly sweet. When I prepare a recipe for the first time and I can't think of a single thing I would change to make it better, I know it's a good one. As a side note, the cookbook lists seven alternate fruit or vegetable and nut combinations that you can use in place of the carrots and almonds. Some of the combinations are quite unique and would be fun to try. Here you go!

1. Zucchini and cashews

2. Winter squash and hazelnuts

3. Sweet potatoes and pecans

4. Cherries (pitted) and almonds

5. Cranberries and pistachios

6. Grapes (halved) and peanuts

7. Apples and walnuts

Recipe source:

"How to Cook Everything Vegetarian" by Mark Bittman

Pages 691-692