Easter is a great excuse to eat any variation of carrot cake. But you don’t have to wait for Easter to whip up some easy and delicious carrot coconut muffins.
For this year’s Easter brunch I wanted to bake something that’s not my all-time favorite vegan carrot cake (although you should try it as well). After going through all my favorite cookbooks and baking blogs, I couldn’t find exactly what I was looking for, so I had to improvise and come up with something myself.
And because I am a huge coconut fan (coconut oil for baking, coconut milk for my golden milk, and roasted coconut chips for snacking), I decided to make carrot coconut muffins. They are moist and fluffy, and the coconut chip crumble on top gives them a nice crunch.
For the muffins themselves, I used wholegrain spelt flour and very little sugar to make them as nourishing as possible without compromising on flavor. Nevertheless, the crumble does add quite some sugar to the muffins, so if you are worried about your sugar intake, just sprinkle plain unsweetened coconut flakes on top.
If you are looking for more recipes for Easter, make sure to check out the recipe for chocolate babka and these hot cross buns.
Have fun baking!
Love,
Marion
Carrot Coconut Muffins
Ingredients
- For the muffins:
- 280g (2 1/2 cups) whole grain flour (I used spelt)
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 3 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
- 2 large organic eggs
- 50g (1/4 cup) raw cane sugar
- 250g (1 cup) unsweetened applesauce
- 160ml (3/4 cup) plant-based milk
- 200g (2,5 cups) carrots, finely grated
- 30g (1/3 cup) shredded unsweetened coconut
- For the topping:
- 50g (1/2 cup) whole grain flour (I used spelt)
- 40g raw cane sugar
- 50g unsweetened coconut chips
- 30g (1/8 cup) coconut oil, melted
Directions
- Step 1 Pre-heat the oven to 350°F / 180° C and line a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin paper cases.
- Step 2 Start with making the topping. Using your hands, mix flour, sugar, coconut oil, and coconut chips until a crumbly texture forms. Set aside. If you decide to use plain coconut chips instead, just skip this step.
- Step 3 For the muffins, sift flour into a large bowl (don’t discard the bigger bits of the whole grain flour, just add it back to the bowl after sifting). Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ground ginger, and mix with a spoon.
- Step 4 In a separate bowl, whisk together coconut oil, eggs, sugar, applesauce, vanilla extract, and milk. Add grated carrots and shredded coconut and mix until well combined.
- Step 5 Using a spatula or a wooden spoon, gently fold in the dry ingredients. Be careful not to overmix. The mixture should just come together with some smaller bits of flour remaining.
- Step 6 Scoop the mixture into the prepared tinned sprinkle with the topping or plain unsweetened coconut chips. Place in the middle of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Step 7 Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
