bake this: carrot muffins!

Tonight a dear eco-conscious friend of mine is hosting a sustainable potluck where sustainable foodies gather to eat well and talk shop on local food systems and organic food issues. Initially, I was a little intimidated by some of the foodies attending (some have products that are sold in major supermarkets, others are opening CSAs), so I knew I’d have to step up my proverbial food game. For the great portion of this week I was panicking until I saw Ina Garten’s Back to Basics, which reminded me that great food needn’t be fancy – it just needs to be good. So I whipped up my triple-apple pie (all apples, and crust ingredients are locally sourced) and then I thought I’d make a go of carrot muffins. I’ve never fixed a carrot muffin before, and this particular recipe, modified version of Joy of Baking’s carrot muffin, has a chockfull of healthy ingredients, and is unbelievably moist.

Ingredients: Note that I use all local/organic ingredients when I can.
1/2 cup pecans, toasted for 5-8 minutes, cooled, and then coarsely chopped
2 cups grated raw carrot (about 2-3 peeled carrots)
1 large apple, peeled and grated
2 cups all-purpose flour*
1 1/4 cups granulated white sugar*
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
3 large eggs
3/4 cup canola or grapeseed oil*
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven. Place paper liners in 12 muffin cups. Toast the pecans on an un-greased skillet for approximatley 5-8 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Let cool and then rough chop.

Peel and finely grate the carrots and apple. This is probably the hardest task of the whole recipe. While I used a box grater, you may either use your food processor with the grater attachment or purchase your carrots pre-shredded. Also note that the apple will be incredibly wet after grating. Only use the apple portion and discard the juices. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and ground cinnamon. Stir in the nuts and coconut until all the ingredients are combined. Set aside.

In a separate bowl (or in a Kitchen Aid fitted with the paddle attachment) whisk together the eggs, oil, and vanilla extract. Fold the wet ingredients, along with the grated carrot and apple, into the flour mixture, stirring just until moistened. It is critical that you fold until all the ingredients are just combined. Overmixing the batter will create gluten and then you yield the hockey puck muffin. No one wants the hockey puck muffin, so go easy on the folding. If the term folding gives you anxiety attacks, simply click here to check out the technique. Essentially, you are incorporating air into the mixture so the muffins are light and fluffy. With your spatula, you are starting at the bottom of the batter and folding it on top of the batter, moving the bowl in a circular motion. I realize, that as I type this, it might make the technique sound tricky, but it isn’t. Bottom line: don’t overmix.

Evenly divide the batter between the prepared muffin cups and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. After about 10 minutes remove the muffins from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

*Notes: If you don’t have canola or grapeseed oil, you can definitely use vegetable oil. I also use cane sugar and unbleached flour.

This entry was posted on Saturday, January 24th, 2009 at 5:34 pm and is filed under foodie gal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.