These tender, fluffy whole grain muffins are studded with shredded carrots, chopped dates, and walnuts, flavored with vanilla, cinnamon, and cardamom, and make the perfect breakfast or weekend brunch addition! The recipe makes just 6-8 muffins, but can easily be doubled for a larger batch if you’re feeding a crowd! See recipe notes below for vegan and gluten-free options.
**MARCH 2020 UPDATE**
This recipe was originally posted in March of 2016, and I’ve since made these muffins dozens of times (sometimes exactly as written, sometimes with a flax egg to make them vegan, sometimes with alternate flours like oat, almond, and/or chickpea, and even a few times with shredded sweet potato instead of carrots!) but I was never in love with the photos. So, today I’m re-posting the recipe with a fresh set of photos and more streamlined recipe instructions; I hope you love them as much as I do! I’ve left the original blog post in tact below, for the sake of nostalgia. Feel free to scroll straight to the bottom to get the recipe, if you’ve already read this old blog post!
These carrot muffins are about as simple and wholesome as a breakfast pastry gets. Whole wheat flour, maple syrup, carrots, dates, and walnuts come together to form a nutrient-dense breakfast that happens to be the same shape as a dessert.
These muffins are subtly sweet from the maple syrup, and are filled with little bonus bites of concentrated sweetness from the dates. Whole wheat flour lends a pleasantly dense texture and gives these muffins more staying power. The warm, spicy, earthy combination of cinnamon and cardamom makes them the perfect pair with a cup of coffee or tea.
I’ve been loving them lately with a smear of almond butter on top, and I love throwing leftovers into the freezer for busy mornings in the future; they’re also a fun lunchbox snack if you’re feeding kiddos.
Whatever you do, I think you’re going to love these muffins. They make a batch of six as written, which is the perfect amount for our family of two. Double the recipe if you’re feeding a crowd or want to stock your freezer with muffins for busy workday mornings.
If you make them, be sure to let me know what you think by leaving a comment below or taking a picture of your muffins and sharing it with me on Instagram so I can see!
Whole Grain Carrot Date Spice Muffins
Time: 30 minutes
Yields: 6-8
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup white whole wheat or whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cardamom
- 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup shredded carrots (from 1 large carrot)
- 4 medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a muffin tin with 8 paper liners.
- Place applesauce, egg, maple syrup, oil, and vanilla in a large bowl and whisk to combine.
- Add all remaining ingredients (including chopped dates and optional walnuts) and stir to fully combine.
- Divide the batter evenly among muffin cups. I like to use a 1/4 cup dry measuring cup to keep them all even. Depending on if you use walnuts or not, you should get between 6-8 muffins.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until muffins are golden and just cooked through. Eat immediately, or transfer muffins to a cooling rack to cool completely. Once cooled, muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days, or for over a month in the freezer.
NOTES: these muffins are highly adaptable- feel free to swap out the dried fruit and nuts, use an alternate shredded vegetable like butternut squash or sweet potatoes, add more spices like ginger and nutmeg, or use other wheat-based flours like all-purpose, spelt, einkorn, etc.
MAKE IT VEGAN: swap the egg for 1 flax egg (1 Tablespoon flax meal + 3 Tablespoons water, stirred together and let sit for 5 minutes before using).
MAKE IT GLUTEN FREE: I have had succeess making these muffins with an equal amount of oat flour in place of the whole wheat. They also hold their structure well with a blend of 1/2 cup almond flour and 1/2 cup chickpea flour. I haven’t tested these with any store-bought GF blends, but suspect they would work well.