Carrot Banana Muffins
A healthy muffin with the goodness of fresh seasonal red cartots, almonds, raisins, dates and just a tablespoon of oil? Doesn’t the description sound tempting? Oh! Did I say that it doesn’t have any added sugar in it, neither in the form of jaggery too!! Yes, agree that
it doesn’t have one of the most appealing texture. But then who cares for that texture in a healthy muffin. We are definitely not talking of airy, fluffy and light cupcakes here.
It’s very difficult for me to make my family try out cakes and cupcakes. They are neither great fans of them nor too good on terms of experimenting. So, most of the time I do not get a chance to play around with flavours and flours as much as I would like to. You may not see me experimenting a lot with cakes as I do with my breads. According to my daughter, cake is a very much easily avoidable and unnecessary indulgence. Breads become a meal for us, whereas cakes are often eaten on top of a good meal 🙂 anyways….
As always, I have used a 240 ml cup. Was planning to completely skip the oil, but added a tablespoon at the last moment 🙂 If you try it, please share your thoughts and feedback. It does taste sweet because of the dates, banana and raisins, so you wouldn’t really miss the sugar in taste. It’s slightly dense because of oats, wheat and banana. But who cares, if it’s tasty and healthy 🙂
Ingredients:
- Whole wheat flour 60 gm
- Oats 25 gm
- Almond powdered 35 gm
- Grated carrots 75 gm
- Salt a pinch
- Baking powder 1/2 tsp
- Baking soda 1/8 tsp
- Raisins 35 gm
- Dates 50 gm
- Banana mashed 75 gm
- Vanilla extract 1/2 tsp
- Oil 1 tbsp
- Milk 150 ml (1/2 cup + 2 tbsp)
- Apple cider vinegar 1 tsp
Method:
- As always with baking cakes or muffins, preheat the oven at 150-160 degree Celsius for around ten minutes.
- Grease a muffin mould with butter and keep it ready.
- Powder the oats in a dry mixer jar. In the same jar, powder the almond too.
- Now make a paste of dates and the banana.
- Add the vinegar to the milk and keep aside for it to curdle. Your buttermilk is ready to use.
- Sieve together the wheat flour, oats four, powdered almonds, salt and leavening agents around ten to twelve times. This helps in aeration and fluffier bakes.
- Mix the butter milk and dates-banana mixture with a whisk.
- Add a tablespoon of oil and a dash of pure vanilla extract.
- Pour this into a bowl containing the dry ingredients.
- Fold in the raisins and grated carrots. You can add a tablespoon more of milk if the batter looks too dry.
- Now pour the mixture into the prepared muffin mould and tap to remove air bubbles if any.
- Bake it at the lower rack with both rods on and with fan mode for 35-40 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
- Remove the mould from the oven and place it on a cooling rack.
- After they are a bit cooled say after 6-8 minutes, transfer the muffins onto the wire rack and cool completely.
- Enjoy with a cup of hot tea or warm milk.
- This is a very mildly sweetened muffin. Not that airy, light or fluffy. But it tastes good and has a whole lot of healthy ingredients making it perfect to satisfy your sudden craving for something cakey 🙂
Notes:
- You may add all spice powder or cinnamon powder and skip the vanilla.
- Try increasing the amount of oil by a tablespoon for a better texture.
- Be creative, make changes in the base recipe and try out different variations 🙂 nothing will go wrong.
- Transfer the muffins onto the wire rack delicately and after its slightly cooled, or else it might crumble due to its weight and less fat to hold it.
