Paleo Carrot-Coconut Spice Muffin
This is a really moist, delicious and sweet (verging on naughty) muffin/cake inspired by a recipe I found on the Crossfit Hoboken blog. My biggest pet peeve about many paleo baked goods is that they are often dry, or the consistency is so off that I’d rather not deal with the wanna-be baked good substitution at all. I suspect this has to do with the almond flour and what you mix with it. This recipe was neither dry nor weird of texture. It does contain a good amount of honey but I’m sure you can do without as the carrots themselves are fairly sweet. Very strict paleo peeps will probably opt out for both the orange juice and the honey. It should also be noted that carrots are also often avoided in large quantities by paleo people because carrots contain a fair amount of sugar. I should also let you know that I eyeballed the spices and didn’t properly measure at the time, so the spice measurements are my best recollection of the amounts. Next time I make these I want to try adding some chopped apple or raisins with toasted walnuts.
I used muffin tins for this recipe, but bunt pans or whatever type of cooking pan strikes your fancy are good too.
Ingredients:
- 6 eggs, (separated white and yolk)
- 1/2 cup honey or agave nector (or less)
- 1 3/4 cups carrots, cooked and pureed
- Grated orange rind from 1 orange
- 1 cup fresh squeeze orange juice reduced to 2 Tbs concentrate (this makes it sweeter, but you can also just add 2-3 tbs fresh oj)
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened coconut flakes
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp cloves
- 1 1/1 tsp cardamon
- 2 tsp dried ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt (if desired)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325° F.
2. Beat the egg yolks and honey together.
3. Mix in carrot puree, orange rind, orange juice, almond flour, coconut, salt and spices. Beat the egg whites until stiff and fold in.
4. Spoon batter into greased muffin tins or a pan. Bake for about 35-45 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of the muffin/cake comes out clean.
5. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Note: I agree with the original recipe notes that anything could probably be put in place of the carrots – Pumpkin, zucchini etc., since the vegetable is pureed first.
Sorry about the rotten photo. My camera phone has been tried and found wanting.
