{Carrot Cake Muffins} - no sugar added

Posted: February 24, 2013

I have been juicing for almost two years now.  I love what it's done for my body - kickstarting my weightloss, killing my sugar cravings completely, and giving me so much extra energy... But I have a confession: for 2 years, I have always put the pulp straight down the drain. This weekend was different though.  For the first time ever, I actually saved the leftover pulp from my "Good Morning Juice" to make into another recipe.  And it was such a success and just feels so darn good not to waste all that pulp, that I will definitely be trying this again in hopes of creating many tandem juice/baking recipes.  My next idea is to use some of the pulp from a green juice to make a nice veggie-filled marinara sauce. Anyways, back to dessert...

Introducing Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins:

I've seen recipes for "healthy" carrot cake in the past - that all contain cups of sugar and oil.  My recipe uses zero oil or added sugars - white or brown - as they are sweetened naturally from fruit, veggies, greek yogurt, and only 1/4 cup of agave nectar (or honey).

I used leftover pulp from my "Good Morning Juice" instead of the traditional "shredded carrots" called for in carrot cake.  Hint: my juicer is small enough that I have to empty the pulp mid-way through juicing. So for the first round, I just juiced carrots and sweet potatoes (leaving out the oranges):

Babycakes loved both the juice AND the muffins, though I think she was partial to the JUICE!

These are definitely a true sweet, dessert muffin - much more like actual cake.  I can't see eating them for breakfast myself... but I won't tell anyone if you do!!

They are delicious plain, or you could add my no-sugar cream cheese frosting on top for extra goodness.

Looking for other healthy dessert alternatives?

Carrot Cake Muffins - no sugar added

Description

{Carrot Cake Muffins} - no sugar added // @noshandnourish

Ingredients

1 1⁄2 cup
Carrot/Sweet Potato Pulp, from juicing (or sub in shredded carrots if you don't juice)
3 1⁄2 ounces
Gerber Organic Fruit Pounch (I used Pear, Peach, Strawberry - or sub plain applesauce)
1 1⁄2 ounce
Raisins
1⁄2 cup
Rolled Oats
1 1⁄3 cup
Flour (I used Bob's Redmill Unbleached White)
1 teaspoon
Baking Powder
1⁄2 teaspoon
Cinnamon
1 teaspoon
Sea Salt
1 teaspoon
Vanilla Extract
1⁄4 cup
honey
6 ounces
Pear Chobani Greek Yogurt
2  
Eggs
1⁄4 cup
Vanilla Almond Milk

Instructions

  1. Save the pulp from this juice, and measure out 2 cups of the sweet potato/carrot pulp. 
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. (I currently use a convection oven)
  3. Add all additional ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
  4. Use non-stick spray to coat a muffin tin.
  5. Spoon equal amounts into each cup (the muffins don't "rise" too much, so you can fill them up basically to the top).
  6. Bake for 30 minutes, or until lightly browned on the top.
  7. Serve as is - which is amazingly delicious, OR top with a cream cheese frosting.

Yields 12 Muffins

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Comments

Submitted by Calee - February 25, 2013 - 12:03pm

I'm saving this recipe and am going to try it with my random pulp that I'm making mark save from his breakfast juices (everything from orange to carrot to pineapple to beets). :)

Submitted by Cristal - February 25, 2013 - 4:53pm

Can you explain the 3⁄5 ounces portion of the recipe? I plan on using applesauce. Thanks!

Submitted by kelly - February 25, 2013 - 4:55pm

Sorry about that, it should have read: 3.5 ounces. I have corrected it on the recipe! It's basically just one little pouch.
Submitted by Victoria Green - February 25, 2013 - 5:10pm

What's - Gerber Organic Fruit Pounch?

Submitted by kelly - February 25, 2013 - 5:17pm

It's "technically" baby food - sold in pouches... that is purely pureed organic fruit. Here's a link to the one I used in this recipe: http://www.gerber.com/allstages/products/puree_baby_food/organic_2nd_foo...
Submitted by janise - February 25, 2013 - 6:51pm

I love the idea of using the pulp, I always feel so guilty after juicing when I throw all the pulp away. I do have a quick question though, are you only using the carrot and sweet potato ?? omitting the orange pulp correct??

Submitted by kelly - February 25, 2013 - 6:55pm

That's correct. Since my juicer is small, I have to empty it out halfway during the juicing process anyway. So I just juiced 3 or 4 carrots plus 1.5 sweet potatoes first. Emptied/saved that particular pulp... then juiced the remaining ingredients including the oranges. I saved that pulp too...I just haven't decided what to make with it :) Maybe some orange cinnamon clove bread!
Submitted by Wendy - February 25, 2013 - 11:30pm

I've noticed you're using AP flour as opposed to bob's red mill whole wheat pastry flour, is that because the muffins would not turn out right? I try to mix is some form of wheat flour into baking when I do manage to do it just for some more nutrients, but I haven't made muffins that way yet.

Submitted by kelly - February 26, 2013 - 1:42pm

Hi Wendy! Thanks for the comment - you know, it's a far less sophisticated answer as to why I've been using the Bob's Redmill unbleached white --- it's because my new mountain grocery store doesn't carry Bob's whole wheat pastry flour. I need to make a trip to the big city to stock up!!! I think ANY of my recipes that call for flour would do great with Bob's ww pastry variety.
Submitted by Wendyendy - February 26, 2013 - 9:28pm

Ok that makes perfect sense I can relate with not being able to find stuff locally. I love Amazon.com and with a $79.00 annual prime membership I can get any prime item in 2 days free freight included r opt fr 1 day delivery for 3.99 t's great

Submitted by Wendyendy - February 26, 2013 - 9:30pm

Oops

Submitted by Wendyendy - February 26, 2013 - 9:28pm

Ok that makes perfect sense I can relate with not being able to find stuff locally. I love Amazon.com and with a $79.00 annual prime membership I can get any prime item in 2 days free freight included r opt fr 1 day delivery for 3.99 t's great

Submitted by JoAnna @ JoAnna Thinks - February 27, 2013 - 3:04pm

Got to say, I would kill for Babycakes' eyes and perfect skin!

Submitted by Chris - February 27, 2013 - 3:23pm

Tried this this morning using the leftover pulp. I had to use Strawberry and Banana Chobani becaue my grocery store did not seem to carry pear. I also used regular milk and unsweetened applesauce.

These were really good! I don't know what it was but they tasted like they had butter on them already! And I really like the sea salt. It gave a very subtle sweet and salty flavor that I love so much.

Nice job!

Submitted by Lynn - March 1, 2013 - 6:50pm

I've just started juicing about 7 days ago with a few vegan meals thrown in and I LOVE IT. Almost all of my cravings for sugar/fat are gone so far, we'll see how it goes :) Definitely making these this week at some point. Thank you!

Submitted by Rebekah - March 3, 2013 - 11:13pm

Thanks for the post, Kelly! I've been trying to think of ways to use the pulp - other than opening the door and throwing it out on the garden patch (my dirt is looking nice after doing it all winter, though!). I added an apple to the juice as well, so that got mixed into the sweet potato and carrot pulp. I liked it! Matt commented that they were the best tasty healthy muffins he's had. I took it as a compliment! And the juice was yummy!

I was able to yield 14 muffins and the baked for about 35 min (standard oven). I didn't have the fruity yogurt, so just used honey greek yogurt.

One thought that struck me as I was mixing everything up is that in baking, most recipes have you mix up your wet and dry ingredients separately. This is so that the dry ingredients are well mixed together, and more importantly, to avoid over mixing the flour, which creates more gluten, thus a drier cake/muffin. This is especially true in all purpose flours. Cake and pastry flour tends to have less protein, so it isn't quite as important, but just a thought for future baking!

Submitted by LetaBee - March 4, 2013 - 11:24am

being a busy mom, i can Totally understand using whatever you have available to make delicious healthy snacks. so that is what i did too.

sub'd in:
applesauce : (peeled) orange pulp leftover from juicing
unbleached flour : wholemeal spelt flour
pear chobani greek yogurt : plain greek yogurt
vanilla almond milk : soy milk
: used honey, as recommended

they are smelling wonderful baking away.. will let you know how they turn out:)

Submitted by Christy - March 6, 2013 - 9:31am

What's a good sub for the yogurt? We are dairy-free.

Submitted by Buttercup - March 11, 2013 - 8:30pm

I was so excited when I saw this, got everything ready, loved it didn't call for the oil and sugar at all. They were just a bit too heavy for me... LOVE THE NAME BABYCAKES.... That was my name years ago.... :)

Submitted by hills - March 13, 2013 - 11:59am

I made a double batch, had a lot of pulp. I used plain Greek yogurt since i did not have pear and did not have raisins also. I cooked them 30 minutes and stuck a cooking stick in them and it came out clean but they were mushy. I cooked them another 10 minutes but they were still mushy. Also they were not sweet to me and that weird "buttery" taste didn't seem right either.

Submitted by Priscella - March 17, 2013 - 1:04am

I found this recipe very helpful in turning some of our juicing pulp into a lunch snack or easy dinner meal. These muffins are very filling and oaty, we love them. I had A LOT of extra batter and opted for a loaf of bread instead of more muffins (the bread will be good for pb or tuna). I did not use agave as we are monitoring our blood sugar, so we used coconut sap. Also, we omitted the raisins and bought a single package of baby food (butternut squash and apple) and then subbed with some olive oil (I would've used coconut but I was baking at my sister's house) and they came out perfectly.
Great! Thank you :)

Submitted by Katie - March 27, 2013 - 3:44pm

I used finely chopped ginger instead of raisins (didn't have raisins on hand)... delish! Thanks for the recipe.

Submitted by Diane - April 20, 2013 - 9:06pm

Used my pulp from your great juice, used whole wheat flour. I also added the cream cheese icing but I didn't have date puree so I used some Polaners All-fruit Sugarfree Apricot Preserves. Tasted great!

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