Carrot-Orange Bran Muffins (recipe)

I’ve been craving carrot-orange muffins since I saw them at Tim Horton’s a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, everything at Tim Horton’s seems to be loaded with sugar, so I decided to make my own.

These carrot-orange muffins are made with bran and are low-sugar to boot. If you want them celiac-friendly you can use gluten-free flour.

Carrot-Orange Bran Muffins

• 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
• 1 ½ cups all-bran cereal (such as all bran, bran flakes)
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 ¾ cups skim milk, with 2 teaspoons lemon juice (or 1 ¾ cup buttermilk)
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds, mixed with 1 cup of water to make chia gel
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce (or pumpkin, or just margarine)
• 3 bulk carrots, grated (approx. 1 1/2 cups)
• 1 orange, grated rind
• ½ cup raisins (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cereal, raisins (you may add the raisins in with the wet ingredients if you choose), sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda.

3. In a large bowl, combine egg, milk, margarine, applesauce, carrot and orange rind.

4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

5. Spoon into sprayed or lightly greased muffin tin. Do NOT use paper muffin liners.

6. Bake for 20 minutes, or until tops are firm to the touch, or when a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Words of Wisdom:

That note on direction #5 about not using paper muffin liners… yeah, I learned this the hard way. Turns out they don’t peel off nicely and I ended up with ugly muffins.

The batch should make a dozen decent-sized muffins. I ended up with 18 small muffins because they didn’t rise very much and I only filled each tin ¾ full. Next time I’ll fill them level with the muffin tin.

And finally, I’m not sure if it was how I was storing them (in a tupperware on the counter), or if my apartment heat is too high (I can’t control the temp) or if it was the paper muffin cups (damn you!) … but my muffins went mouldy within 3 days. Next time, I’m storing them in the fridge because otherwise, this recipe is top notch.

P.S. I combined several different recipes for carrot and/or low-sugar bran muffins, then included orange zest.

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