Little Carrot Muffins Recipe

From Woman's Day | April 2, 2002

• Active Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour

Recipe Ingredients

• 13⁄4 cups all-purpose flour                                       
• 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
• 13⁄4 tsp baking powder
• 11⁄2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 tsp nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
• 1⁄2 tsp baking soda
• 1⁄2 tsp salt
• 2 jars (4 oz each) baby food carrots
• 3⁄4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (see Tip)
• 1⁄4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Orange Icing
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 Tbsp 1% lowfat milk
• 1 tsp freshly grated orange peel
• 1⁄2 tsp vanilla extract
• Carrot decoration: large orange and large green gumdrops or jellied fruit slices

Recipe Preparation

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup mini-muffin pan (each cup should have a scant 2 Tbsp capacity).2. In a large bowl, stir flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt until thoroughly combined.3. In a medium bowl, whisk carrots, orange juice, oil, egg and vanilla until well blended. Add all at once to flour mixture, then stir with a rubber spatula just until evenly moistened. Spoon half the batter into muffin cups. Leave remaining batter at room temperature.4. Bake 15 to 18 minutes until a wooden pick inserted in centers comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes then remove from pan to rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining batter. 5. Icing and Carrot Decoration: Mix icing ingredients in a small bowl until smooth. Cover and refrigerate. Cut orange gumdrops into 24 carrot shapes, each about 1 in. long. Cut green gumdrops into 24 little strips. Stick onto tops of carrots.6. Up to 1 day before serving: Spread 1⁄2 tsp icing on each muffin. (Icing may weep around edges. That’s normal.) Top with a carrot. Refrigerate covered until serving.TIP Grate the orange peel for the icing and wrap airtight before juicing the oranges for the muffins.Planning Tips: The muffins can be stored airtight at room temperature up to 2 days or frozen up to 2 months. The decorations and icing can be made up to 2 days ahead. Re­frigerate icing tightly covered; store decorations airtight at room temperature. Ice and decorate muffins up to 1 day before serving.

• Nutrition Facts
• Yield 24 carrot muffins
• Servings 12
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories 202
• Total Fat 5g
• Saturated Fat 1g
• Cholesterol 18mg
• Sodium 233mg
• Total Carbohydrates 36g
• Dietary Fiber 1g
• Protein 3g