Carrot, Apple, and Pecan Muffins

I took this recipe from the website Joy of Baking, which I'm sure you already know very well. I simply substituted some of the ingredients according to our food intolerance, reduced the amount of sugar and oil, and added some milk in order to have a quite good amount of wet ingredients.

You might need to add a bit of flour if the batter will look too liquidy. I noticed that according to the size of the eggs the consistency of the batter might change. I normally use medium eggs, since it is impossible to find other sizes ─ I'm talking about organic eggs ─ but the eggs might be different from time to time and I often find myself adding or reducing the amount of flour every single time, even if I use the same recipe...odd, right? :)

Anyway, if you wish to take a look at the original recipe, just click here and you are good to go. :)

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup (60 ml) pecans or walnuts

1 1/3 cups (320 ml) grated raw carrot (about 2-3 peeled carrots)

1 small apple, peeled and grated

1 1/3 cups (175 grams) spelt flour

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup (120 ml) coconut (sweetened or unsweetened) (optional)

2 medium organic eggs

1/3 cup (85 ml) canola oil

1/3 cup goat milk, lactose-free,soy, splet, almond, or rice milk

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:

Preheated oven: 350ºF/180ºC

Baking time: 20-25 Minutes

Quantity: about 12 Muffins

First roast the pecans for about 8 minutes. Let them cool and chop them. 

Then, peel and grate the apples and carrots, and put them aside.

In a medium bowl whisk the eggs with the oil and pure vanilla extract until the eggs become very fluffy.

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and coconut (if you decided to use it) leaving the pecans out.

Fold the pecans into the wet ingredients.

Then, add the carrots and apples, and the wet ingredients into the dry ones and stir just until everything is moistened. Do not over mix or the muffins will come out very dry.

Pour the batter into the muffin cups and put the muffin tray in a preheated oven. Place the tray in the second rack and bake for about 20-25 minutes. I normally have to bake them at least 30 minutes (my oven is very old) and I have to place the tray in the third rack starting from the top and not in the middle because, if I put the muffin tray in the middle rack, the muffins tend to over cook on the top. Therefore, do what is the best to do according to your oven and have fun. :)