Over the weekend, I started craving something healthy-ish for breakfast. I usually make a big brunch on Sunday with pancakes, eggs, and bacon, but I was coming off a week of vacation where I basically ate hot dogs and nonstop barbecue, so I wanted something lighter.

Cue: These carrot cake muffins. They’re moist (had to use that word, even though I hate it); full of good stuff like flax seeds, walnuts, shredded apple and carrot; and they have plenty of fall spices like cinnamon and ginger. Also, they have lots of brown sugar and golden raisins, so you still get sweetness even though there’s a healthy dose of savory ingredients.

I was a little worried about how these would taste because of the abundance of healthy ingredients, but I was pleasantly surprised. They had the perfect amount of sweetness and were not too heavy, so I felt like I could have two with a cup of coffee. This morning I had one with a homemade chai latte and it hit the spot.

I’m storing my muffins in an airtight container in the fridge and microwaving them every morning to make them last longer, but feel free to freeze them if you want. Then you can heat the oven to 350 degrees F, pop them in for about 10 minutes, and you’ll have a freshly baked breakfast.

Here’s a song to get you started on your carrot cake muffin journey. I’m *slightly* obsessed with the new Kylie Minogue album, and surprisingly, so is my boyfriend. He knows a good bop when he hears it.

Carrot Cake Breakfast Muffins

Ingredients

200 g carrots, peeled
1 medium apple, peeled
65 g light brown sugar
40 g chopped walnuts
75 g golden raisins
70 g sunflower seeds
40 g whole flaxseeds
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
2 tsp baking soda
3 large eggs, at room temp
140 g grapeseed oil (or another neutral oil)
2 tsp pure vanilla paste or extract
253 g sifted whole wheat flour

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray and line a 12 muffin tin. Set aside.

Grate the apple and carrots and add them to a large bowl. Toss in the brown sugar. Stir in the walnuts, raisins, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, ground spices, salt, and baking soda.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, and vanilla. Add it to the carrot mixture and mix until it’s combined. Fold in the flour to this mixture until you can’t see the flour anymore.

Use an ice cream scoop or spoon to spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups. Bake for 22-23 minutes until the tops of the muffins spring back to the touch. Let cool in the pan for a few minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way. Enjoy!