Carrot Muffins with Love

We were invited to a brunch this past Sunday and carrot muffins were on the menu. I got really excited to hear that, as it is super hard to find baked stuff around here outside of our own kitchen. Brunch menu was great but no carrot muffins:( Now that could make a pregnant lady go crazy! Hence, they were on my mind since Sunday, I just had to bake them ASAP:) The perfect excuse came when my husband came down with a cold and his favorite cake happens to be carrot cake. This morning, up super early with the sun, I searched for some recipes before having my first cup of red raspberry tea. On a side note, if you are pregnant, I highly recommend red raspberry tea, it helps to strengthen the uterus muscles, that you will need after giving birth.

The first recipe I found was from Angela. It was vegan but not gluten free. Then I found another one but realized it had eggs and skipped that recipe, though it is pretty easy to convert eggs into vegan eggs with flax eggs. I started with Angela's recipe and prepared the flax eggs, don't ask me why!! Totally messed up and mixed two recipes in my mind. Half way through the process, a tiny panic came in, "oh this recipe doesn't have eggs" but then added them anyways and continued making my own carrot muffins. Vegan, gluten-free, coconutty and not so sweet! They turned out super moist, packed with carrots and love.

Vegan Carrot Coconut Muffins- Gluten Free

Adapted from Angela @ Oh She Glows

Yield: 12 muffins

Dry:

• 1 cup gluten free baking flour
• 3/4 cup rice flour
• 2 tsp x-tan gum
  
• 1/4 cup natural raw sugar
• 1 tbsp ground flax seed
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
  
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
  
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

 Wet:

• 1/3 cup agave syrup
  
• 1/3 cup coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
  
• 1/4 cup soy milk (or coconut milk)
• 1/4 cup water
  
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons of ground flax with 6 tablespoons of warm water. (Mix well and let the eggs develop while preparing the other ingredients, it will be gooey)
  
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
  
• 1/2 cup raisins, soaked in water and drained (I used prunes because we had no raisins, it came out great.)
  
• 1/3 cup chopped & toasted walnuts
• 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1 orange zest
  

Directions:

1. Toast the walnuts on the stove, under medium heat. Preheat oven to 400F and line a muffin tin with liners or use a silicon muffin tray.

2. Whisk all dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Separately, whisk together the wet ingredients, flax eggs, oil, water, vanilla, soy milk. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just incorporated.

3. Fold in the carrots, ginger, orange zest, prunes (or raisins), coconut and walnuts. Batter will be THICK!

4. Scoop batter into the muffin liners, filling the batter to the top, making it a little higher than the mold level.  Bake for about 18 minutes at 400F until a toothpick comes out clean. Be patient and wait until they cool for about 15-20 minutes.

Enjoy!!!