I am against vegetables in cake, but I am pro vegetables in muffins. I am against raisins in cake, but I am pro raisins in muffins. The same goes with nuts. Basically, carrot cake is an abomination, or at best just a vehicle for cream cheese frosting, but carrot muffins are awesome.
Awesome to eat, that is; they’re a bit of a pain to make, what with the carrot shredding and nut toasting and spice measuring. But they’re worth it in the end, hearty and moist and studded with sweet raisins and bitter pecans. I have to confess to wondering if they would be even better topped with cream cheese frosting though.
Nancy chose these for Tuesdays with Dorie, and she has the recipe posted. I reduced the oil to ½ cup, replaced 1 cup of all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour, doubled the salt, and increased the carrot slightly.
One year ago: Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream
Two years ago: Banana Bundt Cake
Three years ago: Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream
I really liked these muffins and I expect that they would have been great with cream cheese icing. I don’t mind vegetables in cake, but maybe I’m just not picky! I loved the spices in these.
These look great! I love veggies in my cake or muffins…yum.
Look at all the goodies showing thru in those muffins. YUM!!!!
Visiting all of the TWD blogs, it’s hilarious to see the different reactions to carrot cake, muffins, and various of the mix-ins. I love your strong muffin/cake divide. To me these muffins bridged that gap a bit. I agree that shredding carrots is a pain, but at least it wasn’t zucchini, that you have to shred and then squeeze! Thanks for baking along with me this week.
Your muffins domed so beautifully! I’m jealous, mine were sadly quite flat. I’m with you on the cream cheese frosting, I probably would have piped some on had I not been worried about my lack of willpower.
These look beautiful. Can’t wait to try them! One question for you though…I’ve noticed you very often double, or somehow increase the salt a recipe calls for. I was wondering why. Is it a taste thing or a health thing, does it have something to do with the climate you’re baking in?
Jen – It’s just for flavor. A lot of Dorie’s recipes are undersalted for my taste and end up being bland without a touch more salt.