Carrot Cake Muffins with Pecan Streusel

Hi Friends,

Doesn’t it seem amazing every time spring rolls around?

The flowers, the buds on my apple trees, the appearance of a long line of tiny ants invading my kitchen. Every winter, I completely forget somehow that spring in fact, WILL come, no matter what.

When I was a child, my grandmother’s best friend (who I truly thought was my Aunt) would visit from upstate New York and bring in her suitcase beautiful produce from her garden. In the fall, it was apples for her famous apple dumplings, but in late spring, she’d bring giant carrots, so HUGE and juicy they dwarfed anything I’d seen before.

We’d of course, just chop them up and eat them, but my grandmother could never resist gilding the lily a bit. Many things from her gigantic hot Oklahoma garden (with a pretend oil derek that we loved to climb at one end) were destined for a cake or pie, and Aunt Ruthanne’s carrots were much the same. Neither my Grandpa nor the kids minded that at all.

I’ve made these as muffins instead of a cake here, with a pecan streusel on top, although my grandma definitely would have added more pecans inside and certainly raisins. Do you think I could talk my kids into that?

I’ve written here to make sure to grate your carrots on the large side of your grater (or with the large grater on your food processor). I have noticed that grating them more finely makes them soggy and ruins the texture a bit.

Enjoy the Spring!

Rachel

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Other muffins you may enjoy:

Gluten Free Olympic Triple Chocolate Muffins

Gluten Free Blueberry Streusel Muffins with Lemon and Olive Oil

Gluten Free Pumpkin Cheesecake Muffins

Gluten Free Carrot Cake Muffins with Pecan Streusel

12 muffins

Muffins:

1 1/3 cup (275 g) packed brown sugar
¾ cup (150g) olive oil (or other oil of choice)
3 large eggs
1 tsp (6g) vanilla extract
2 cups (240g) gluten free one to one flour blend (i.e. King Arthur Measure for Measure, Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1, Better Batter Original, Authentic Foods etc.)
1 tsp (4g) baking powder
1 tsp (6g) baking soda
1/2 tsp (3g) salt
1½ tsp (5g) cinnamon
½ tsp (2g) dried ginger
¼ tsp (1g) nutmeg
2 ¾ cups (270 g) grated carrots – use the big side of your box grater

Streusel:

¼ cup (56g) unsalted butter or nondairy stick butter
¼ cup (28g) chopped pecans
¼ cup (53g) packed brown sugar
¼ cup (30g) gluten free one to one flour blend
½ tsp(2 g) cinnamon

Drizzle:

½ cup (57g) powdered sugar
2-3 Tb (28-44g) plain yogurt (or milk/nondairy milk if you’d prefer)
¼ tsp (1g) vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 350ºF. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners or grease the tin.

Mix the brown sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla together in a bowl until well mixed and no sugar lumps remain. Add the flour blend, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices and mix until a smooth batter forms. Add the grated carrots, mixing them until they are completely coated and incorporated into the batter.

For the streusel, chop the butter into cubes. Put the cubes in a small bowl and add the other ingredients. Rub the ingredients together with your fingertips until a crumbly mixture forms.

For the drizzle, mix all the ingredients in a small bowl with a fork or whisk until they are smooth. Set the bowl in the fridge.

Spoon the muffin batter into the 12 prepared muffin casings evenly. Sprinkle the streusel evenly over the top of each. Bake the muffins for about 30 minutes until risen, golden brown, and a thermometer inserted into the middle of a muffin reads 200F.

Let the muffins cool completely in the tin set on a wire rack. Once they are cool, take the drizzle out of the fridge and drizzle it with a spoon over the muffins (if you drizzle while they are warm, it might soak in, but it will still taste good). Enjoy!