Carrot Cake Muffins | Valerie’s kitchen

These carrot cake muffins are the perfect combination of moist, flavorful carrot cake and flavorful cream cheese frosting. Perfect for breakfast, brunch or as a sweet treat in between. No fork required!

We love freshly baked muffins here! Other favorites include my Spectacular Blueberry Muffins and Apple Coffee Cake Muffins.

These delicious carrot cake-inspired muffins are filled with grated carrots, shredded pineapple, and warm spices to create wonderfully moist muffins with great texture.

The recipe bakes a perfect dozen of these big, beautiful muffins. They’re slightly larger than your average muffin and absolutely delicious. Using some applesauce helps reduce the total amount of oil used, and mashed pineapple adds natural sweetness.

A rich cream cheese frosting studded with finely chopped walnuts perfectly nails the flavor of the carrot cake.

Notes on ingredients

For the muffins

• all purpose flour – Spooned and leveled.
• Sugar – A combination of Brown sugar And granulated sugar.
• baking powder
• Spices – Cinnamon, nutmeg, sand salt.
• Crushed pineapple – A small can of mashed pineapple in 100% juice (no syrup).
• Unsweetened applesauce
• vegetable oil
• Big Eggs
• Pure vanilla extract
• carrots – you want to use freshly grated carrots for this recipe. Don’t be tempted to buy packaged, pre-shredded carrots that are too thick and dry to work well.
• golden raisins – For the classic carrot cake taste.
• walnuts – I love the texture and taste of finely chopped walnuts. You can omit them if you like.

For the cream cheese frosting

• cream cheese – I use ⅓ less fat cream cheese (Neufchatel) cream cheese, but you can use regular cream cheese for an even richer result.
• butter – Softened.
• powdered sugar
• Pure vanilla extract
• milk – Just a small amount to thin the frosting a bit.
• walnuts – I like to top the frosting with some finely chopped walnuts.

How to make carrot cake muffins

1. dry ingredients – In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg. Set the bowl aside.
2. wet ingredients – In a separate medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the pineapple, applesauce, oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.
3. Combine – Add the pineapple mixture to the dry mixture and stir just until the dry ingredients are moistened (do not overmix). Fold in the carrots, walnuts and raisins.
4. Bake – Divide batter evenly among lined or greased muffin cups in a 12-cup muffin tin. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 20 to 24 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and transfer to wire rack to cool completely before glazing.

Line your muffin tin with foil or paper liners, or lightly coat the wells with non-stick cooking spray before adding the muffin batter.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.
2. Beat with an electric mixer until well combined. Add the milk and beat again until smooth and creamy.
3. Use a spoon or piping bag to spread a small amount of the frosting onto each muffin. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

storage tips

Refrigerate – Since carrot cake muffins have a cream cheese frosting, they should be stored in the fridge. A rectangular cake pan with an airtight lid or a cupcake pan is the best way to store frozen muffins and cupcakes without disturbing the frosting. Refrigerated muffins stay fresh and delicious for up to 4 days.

Freeze – Unfrozen carrot cake muffins can be frozen for longer storage. To freeze, wrap them individually in plastic wrap, then place in a freezer bag. This way you can thaw as many as you like and keep the rest frozen. Be sure to label the bag with the date and use the muffins within 3 months.

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