Healthy Carrot Spice Cake Muffins
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If you’re like us, you want a dessert to not only satisfy a sweet tooth, but do double duty by packing in quality nutrients into your daily diet. These healthy muffins are a take on the classic carrot cake recipe. However, we’re substituting traditional flour and using almond flour to add texture and flavor, while keeping your baked treats soft and moist. Almond flour is also a great alternative for those with Type 2 diabetes or looking to avoid additional carbohydrates in their diet. Add in your favorite protein powder, as well as grated carrots, and you’ve got a sneaky way to add vegetables into your child’s day. We love adding pineapple (for added sweetness!) and walnuts (for added crunch!) into this recipe but you can easily tweak this recipe to customize it to your favorite mix-ins. We’re not sure about you, but these healthy carrot spice cake muffins might become your new favorite post-workout treat or afternoon snack!
What You Need To Make These Carrot Spice Cake Muffins
Almond Flour & Coconut Flour. We’re using these flours instead of traditional all-purpose flour to add denseness.
Brown Sugar. Brown sugar has a rich taste that compliments the spices and crunch in these carrot spice cake muffins.
Protein Powder of your choice (We recommend Vital Proteins!). Let’s add a bit more protein, shall we?
Eggs. Adding eggs helps to add structure to the batter.
Coconut Oil, melted and cooled. Again, we are using coconut products in lieu of traditional butter.
Vanilla Extract. To add a bit of spice and sweetness.
Carrot Juice. Of course, you can’t have carrot cake without carrot juice.
Grated Carrots. Or grated carrots.
Crushed Pineapple. There’s just something about pineapple that adds a sweetness to carrot spice cake that we can’t go without.
Unsweetened Shredded Coconut. A bit crunchy, a bit sweet? The perfect combination in a spice cake.
Chopped Walnuts. Don’t forget a bit of crunch.
Baking Powder & Baking Soda. And of course, the muffins need to rise!
Cinnamon, ground All Spice, Nutmeg & Cloves. Add in our blend of spices to give carrot spice cake its spice.
Salt. And just a pinch of salt to top it all off.
easy Ingredient Swaps
Change up your mix-ins. Switch out the chopped nuts for pecans. Additional options could include: pumpkin or sunflower seeds, macadamia nuts, raisins, or chocolate chips.
Leave out the protein powder. No protein, no problem! Just leave this ingredient out.
Swap the Flour. There’s no simple conversion for almond flour to all-purpose flour since it isn’t a true flour. For this recipe, however, you could do 1 cup whole wheat flour + 1 cup almond flour if you would like a more traditional muffin.
How to Make Carrot Spice Cake Muffins
Get the oven ready. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Don’t let the muffins stick! Line muffin pan with silicone liners and spray with non-stick cooking spray to prevent batter from sticking.
Mix up the sugar. In a large bowl, mix the coconut oil and sugar, until the sugar becomes a paste.
Beat some air into the mix. Gently whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract. Try to get some air in there!
Add that key ingredient. Slowly whisk in the carrot juice. (Tip: When mixing in the carrot juice, you don’t want to make it frothy, but try to keep some air in your mixture.)
Now let’s add that crunch. Add your mix ins, careful not to lose much air if you can.
Prepare your dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, mix almond flour, coconut flour, protein, baking soda, baking powder and spices.
Don’t over mix the dry ingredients. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet. Stir just enough to fully mix ingredients. Do not over stir!
Time to bake! Divide the batter into muffin liners. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
Carrot Spice Cake Variations
Make These Muffins Vegan. The vegan baking choice would be to substitute 1/4 cup of applesauce for each egg. Likely this would cause your muffins to be very heavy and not rise. I would suggest removing some of the heavier add-ins (such as pineapple) to prevent this. It might also be possible to use egg replacer. (Let me know if you try it!)
Sugar-Free/Keto. Remove the brown sugar for a sugar-free alternative of your choice, such as Stevia and take out the pineapple.
Paleo. Substitute brown sugar for coconut sugar in a 1:1 ratio.
More Recipes to Try
Baked Almond Butter Oatmeal Breakfast Bars
Maca Cranberry Oatmeal Protein Balls