These muffins are moist and lightly spicy with ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. You can serve them warm out of the oven for breakfast or brunch, or you can turn them into a dessert with the addition of some cream cheese frosting (I like to add some fresh orange zest to the frosting for a little extra flavor). If you like, you can garnish the frosted muffins with chopped toasted nuts and candied carrot curls to turn them into mini-carrot cakes. This recipe makes 1 dozen muffins.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 cups finely shredded carrots
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 5 tablespoons warm melted unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
Preparation:
Position a rack in the center of the oven. preheat the oven to 400 F. Grease a standard 12-muffin pan or line with paper cups. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. In a second large bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar. Stir in shredded carrots and let stand for 10 minutes, then stir in orange juice, melted butter, chopped toasted nuts, and raisins. Add the flour mixture to the second bowl, and fold just until the dry ingredients are moistened (do not overmix, the batter should not be smooth). Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake until a toothpick inserted in one or two of the muffins comes out clean (about 15 to 18 minutes). Let cool for 2 to 3 minutes before removing from the pan. If not serving hot, let cool on a rack.