Carrot Mini Muffins

Little Miss Mischief is a big fan of muffins and mini-muffins are of the perfect size for my little muffin. She used to jump with joy exclaiming 'Mashay Mashay Mashay' which I think came from Milkshake but she really meant muffins! Oatmeal banana muffins, Carrot muffins, Wholewheat muffins, Blueberry muffins - she loves them all. Filled with nuts and fruits and wholegrain goodness, muffins used to be my backup solution if she didn't eat well during the lunch or dinner.


She's all grown up now [two years!! who would have thought time flew like this!] and has started going to a montessori school. I made some of these carrot mini-muffins [Adapted from this recipe which is from the La Leache League International cookbook "Whole Foods for the Whole Family"] for her lunch box and kept them nut free. I added some sesame seeds and sunflower seeds to add some crunch. Grated carrots and yogurt keeps the muffins moist. Gone are the muffins of the old days where I used to make dense muffins with no tops. I've f.i.n.a.l.l.y learnt the art of mixing the muffin batter just right, that my muffins are nice and light and fluffy! And these days, my muffins have tops too! Nobody would believe me if I said these are made of wholewheat and absolutely no All Purpose flour (maida).

Whole wheat flour - 1 and 1/4 cup
Wheat germ - 1/4 cup
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Baking powder - 1 tsp
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Egg - 1
Maple syrup - 1/2 cup [I also use honey/jaggery/sugar once in a while - All works great!]
Yogurt - 1/2 cup
Olive oil - 1/2 cup [1/3rd cup works too]
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp
Grated carrots - 1 and 1/2 cup
Sunflower seeds - 2 Tbsp
Sesame seeds - 2 Tbsp

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Do this step first.

Then, Mix all the dry ingredients together - Wheat flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Use a whisk to break any lumps and mix thoroughly. Keep it aside.

Grease your muffin tins. I used 2 mini muffin tins [which makes 12 each] made of Aluminium. You can line them with mini cupcake liner too. Keep this ready before you mix the muffin batter.

Mix all the wet ingredients next - Beat the egg with fork, add maple syrup, olive oil, yogurt, vanilla, grated carrot and the seeds. Mix again with a fork. [Do not use a handheld blender, It changes the dynamics somehow. A fork works perfectly fine!]

Now mix the dry ingredients with the wet ones - use a wooden spatula, mix as less as you can - just until moistened. DO NOT OVERMIX. This is the key. It is okay for the batter to be a bit lumpy. If you over mix, you take out all the air bubbles and the muffin will be dense.

Spoon into the muffin tins and bake for 15-17 mins. Check by inserting a toothpick in and see if it comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

These muffins freeze well too. And can be warmed up in the microwave.

Note:
1. If you do not have wheat germ, increase the wheat flour to 1 and half cup.
2 . You also can add spices like cinnamon , nutmeg, all spice, ginger powder etc. I deliberately kept it simple to please those tiny taste buds.

I'm sending these muffins too, to keep company to the Wholewheat bread with bran and sesame seeds at the JFI Wholegrains meet hosted by Suganya of Tasty Palettes.