I rarely pull out my mini muffin tins, and that’s a shame because mini muffins are just so cute. I especially like One Bite Carrot Muffins. This recipe is stuffed with good things –whole grains from the flour (though you can use all purpose), carrots, coconut and toasted nuts.
I think the muffins would be good with frosting, but they were great without so I left mine as is.
Also, the only salt in this recipe comes from what’s in the butter and sour cream, so if you use unsalted butter, you might want to add a pinch.
One Bite Carrot Muffins
1 1/2 cups white whole grain flour or all-purpose flour (7 oz)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons regular salted butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (golden or dark)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup regular sour cream
1 cup shredded carrots
3/4 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup finely chopped, toasted pecans
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line 30 mini muffin cups with paper liners. If your pan only has 24 little indentations, you’ll have some extra batter to bake separately.
Mix the flour, baking soda and cinnamon together and set aside.
Beat the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla and eggs. Beat for 1 minute, scraping bowl, and using lowest speed or by hand, stir in the sour cream. Add the flour mixture and stir gently until mixed, then stir in the carrots, coconut, raisins and pecans.
Divide batter evenly among muffin tins – it should be thick and come up to the top.
Bake on center rack for 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in a muffin comes out clean.
Alternatively, you can make these in regular size muffin tins and bake for 25 minutes, in which case you should get 12.
(Adapted from Taste of Home)
Katherine
I made these for a playdate for my son. I thought it would be a good way to sneak in a veggie, and it worked! He really liked them, and I did too.
I omitted the raisins and nuts, and used light sour cream. This recipe is a keeper. Next time I may try half shredded carrot and half zucchini.
TG
mind-reader … i’ve been thinking about making carrot muffins for over a week
Barbara
Love mini muffins. I use my tins all the time- a perfect bite. I wonder how many I would eat if I made your carrot cake recipe??? And I would have to have cream cheese frosting. I am so bad.
clumbsycookie
I love small muffins, you’re right they’re so cute! Plus you can eat 3 or 4 instead of one, and those kind of details are important to me ahahah!
Louise
I’d like a little cream cheese frosting on mine please. 🙂
snooky doodle
these look so good to nibble on 🙂 i love carrot cake 🙂
joan
I recently made the mini-chocolate salted caramel cupcakes from the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book. You can find the recipe on the Bake or Break blog. The reason I made them was because I had some left over salted caramel from a cake I made from the Baked cookbook. Because the caramel was already made, it was fast. I also used a quick and easy chocolate fudge frosting from Rosie’s Baking Book, which has the easiest and best recipes for frostings & fillings. Here’s the recipe: Melt 4 oz of unsweetened chocolate. Let cool slightly. Put 3/4 c. evaporated milk + 1 c. of sugar in a blender. Whiz for a second or two. Add the cooled melted chocolate & blend on high for 1-2 minutes. When it thickens, you will hear the blender sound change. Scoop out of the blender & let the frosting sit in a bowl for 30 minutes. If you don’t use the frosting right away, you can just let it sit @ room temperature. It’s okay to refrigerate the cake once it is frosted, but the recipe cautions you to not refrigerate the frosting. These were so good I ran right out and bought the Cupcake book. There were around 50 mini-cupcakes from this recipe. The frosting was not quite enough. Next time I make these I will multiply the frosting recipe by 1.25.
Katrina
I almost always make any muffin in mini form as that’s a better size that the boys eat. If they want two or three I don’t feel bad, but the little guy(s) only eat usually 1, well and they are great portion control for me!
Yum to carrot!
Lisa Ernst
These are cute and the ingredients look great. I always wonder if such small size muffins or cupcakes can stay moist, but I guess its just a matter of getting the cooking time just right. I know that mini cupcakes are all the rage right now esp. in LA and New York. In NYC this spring, we happened by a little spot in SoHo where mini cupcakes were being sold from a window by the sidewalk. (Didn’t buy any as we’d already eaten other goodies by then.)
sherri
I make MINIS alot- I love em! These sound delicious.
Anna
Dawn, I love Morning Glory muffins. Now that I’ve brushed off the mini muffin tin, I plan to adapt a few more muffins to mini size.
Jenna, thanks! They are cute. I noticed you had a carrot muffin on your blog. That one might work as a “mini” as well.
Cindy, I use the shredding attachment on my food processor. And yes, you could definitely freeze them. Just wrap them really tightly and make sure to get all of the air out of the freezer bag.
CindyD
These sound perfect for an event next week. How do you shred the carrots? Do you think I could make them in advance and freeze them?
jenna
🙂 yum these look amazing! i love mini everything! so cute and delish.
dawn
Ohh you gave me an idea! I need to try my morning glory muffins in mini shape. LOL Thank you! And yes, I agree with you that mini’s are adorable. The whole grain flour is perfect for carrot muffins!