Carrot cake muffins

(makes 12 muffins)

We have been baking about once a week since isolation started, and after going through a number of old favourites, I'm feeling the need to incorporate more vegetables and less sugar into our baking! This carrot cake muffin recipe is good, very soft and moist with the sweetness of the pineapple being mostly enough (and maybe more natural? although I'm not sure about tinned pineapple in juice *shrug*), so I heavily cut back on the sugar from the original recipe. Pretty guilt-free snacking in my books :)

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups plain flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
dash ground nutmeg
1/2 cup (227g can) crushed pineapple in a little bit of juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
2 carrots, grated (equivalent to about 2 cups)
1/2 cup sultanas
1/2 cup walnuts + a dozen extra for topping
raw sugar, for sprinkling on top (optional)

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C and prepare a 12-hole muffin tray by spraying oil on the inside.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large mixing bowl.
3. Combine the pineapple, vegetable oil, egg, vanilla essence together.
4. Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture, mix thoroughly then add in the grated carrots, sultanas and walnuts and stir through.

5. Evenly distribute the muffin mixture into the muffin tray, top with a single walnut and a sprinkle of raw sugar and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

 6. Serve warm. You can keep in an air-tight container for 3-5 days or freeze for 2-3 months.