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These Carrot and Apple Muffins are sweetened only with fruit. They are perfect for breakfast or as a healthy snack.
If you are looking for an indulgent, sweet muffin then this isn't the recipe for you. They certainly don't fall into that category. However, if you are looking for a healthy breakfast or snack idea then these ABC Muffins (A (Apple), B (Banana), C (carrots)) are perfect. They are made up of
- grated apple
- mashed banana
- grated carrot
- apple puree (apple sauce)
- egg
- spelt flour
- almond flour
- milk
- spices (cinnamon & ginger)
- baking soda
- coconut oil
There are so many recipes out there for "healthy sugar-free muffins" only for the ingredient list to contain lots of honey, maple syrup or coconut sugar (eh, not sugar-free then!). I'm sure these recipes taste amazing but they shouldn't be advertised as sugar-free and often have a very high sugar content (sometimes more than regular muffins.)
Technically these Carrot Apple Muffins aren't sugar-free either but they are sweetened only with fruit and are great for little ones.
How to Make Carrot and Apple Muffins
Once you have prepared all your ingredients (grated carrots & apples, mashed bananas, chopped nuts), preheated the oven and greased a muffin tray, then making the muffins can be done in four easy steps:
- Mix the wet ingredients together (milk, egg, apple puree, grated carrot, grated apple, mashed banana, coconut oil) in a large mixing bowl.
- Mix the dry ingredients (spelt flour, almond flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking soda) together in a separate bowl.
- Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and gently stir until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between 12 muffin cups, top with chopped walnuts (optional) and bake for 35 minutes, or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
Top Tips
- Use very ripe bananas - The apple, banana and carrots provide the sweetness. The riper the banana the sweeter the muffin will taste and this recipe works best with really ripe ones
- Be organised - Preheat the oven, prepare your muffin tin, measure your dry and wet ingredients in separate bowls all before combining the wet and dry ingredients. Once the raising agents in the batter are activated, (when the baking powder gets added to the liquid mixture), you need to capitalise on this chemical reaction quickly so that the heat of the oven can set the air bubbles in place.
- Keep an eye on the baking time - Take the muffins out of the oven too soon and they will be sticky and uncooked. Bake them too long, and you run the risk of dry muffins. Every oven is different, so while you should still follow the bake time in this recipe, use a skewer to test your muffins a couple of minutes before the end of the bake time. Your skewer will come out clean if they are ready.
- Pump up the sweetness - if you are looking for something a little bit sweeter then why not try adding ½ cup of sultanas (soak in boiling water and drain before stirring through the muffin mixture). Alternatively, you could replace ¼ cup of milk with maple syrup.
Are these Carrot Muffins Suitable for Babies / Toddlers?
Yes! They are great for babies and toddlers for the following reasons...
- Fruit Sweetened - It is recommended that children under two should not consume any added sugar. Most muffin recipes are packed with sugar, maple syrup or honey. These are sweetened with apple, banana, carrots and cinnamon - perfect for little ones.
- Texture - These muffins are very soft and spongy and are a great texture for little ones.
- Veggie Exposure - It is always good for toddlers to see how versatile and delicious vegetables are.
You may wish to...
- Skip the walnuts on top. (If not, make sure to finely chop.)
- Bake in mini muffin trays. Mini muffins are a much more manageable size for little ones and saves you cutting the muffin into pieces.
Storage Instructions
Cool the muffins completely before storing. (Packing them away when they are even a little warm, will result in condensation and soggy or mouldy muffins.)
- Cool on a wire rack. Transfer your muffins to cool.
- Storing at room temperature - Store in an airtight container for 1-2 days.
- Refrigerating - Refrigerating the muffins alters the texture and is not recommended.
- Freezing - If properly frozen, in an airtight container, then the muffins will be good for 2-3 months. To reheat - just pop them out of the freezer and place them back in the muffin tin. Cover with foil and reheat at 170c /350f until heated through. Alternatively, reheat them in the microwave.
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Carrot and Apple Muffins
Equipment
- 12 Cup Muffin Tray
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon Coconut Oil (melted)
- 1 Ripe Banana (mashed)
- 1 Apple (grated)
- 135g (1 packed cup) Carrot (grated)
- 80g (⅓ cup) Apple Puree (apple sauce)
- 125ml (½ cup) Buttermilk (or ½ cup milk mixed with 1½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice)
- 2 Eggs (beaten)
- 185g (1½ cups) Spelt Flour
- 56g (½ cup) Almond Flour
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon Ginger
- 1 ½ teaspoon Baking Soda
- 35g (¼ cup) Walnuts (chopped)
Instructions
- Pre heat oven to 190c/375f and grease a 12 cup muffin tray.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the coconut oil, mashed banana, apple, carrot, apple puree, milk and eggs. Mix together until combined.
- In a separate bowl add the spelt flour, almond flour, cinnamon, ginger, and baking soda. Gently stir to mix through
- Add the dry flour mix to the wet ingredients and fold in gently until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between the 12 muffin cups and sprinkle with the chopped walnuts (optional).
- Bake muffins for approx. 35 mins or until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into a muffin comes out clean.
- Leave to cool in the muffin tray for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe Notes
Nutritional facts
* This recipe was originally posted on Sep 10, 2015. It has been updated with new photos, recipe tips, information and storage instructions.
Keith Morrison
I spent hours searching for a no added sugar muffin recipe for our one year old that could use up the apples from our garden. Just made a double batch and these are fantastic can't wait to let Lucas have one tomorrow. I replaced the ground almonds with flour and used wholewheat bread flour and that seems to have worked ok. Being Scottish I had to convert "cups" to kilos but think I did my sums right! Thanks for sharing this recipe and I look forward to making the banana bread.
Amy
Hi Keith, thanks for your feedback - I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe. I have started to write my recipes in both cups and g now. I am also Scottish but lived in America for a bit and got used to using cups and found it a lot easier when cooking with a toddler! He likes to use the scale now and measure out the ingredients in grams!!
Emily
This was a huge hit with my two (1yr & 3yr) and myself! Even my hubby enjoyed them and couldn't believe there was no sugar. I used part wholemeal spelt and sprinkled pumpkin and sunflower seeds on top instead. My kiddies aren't given much in the way of sweets so we found this to be the perfect level of sweetness. I've frozen them and bring them out occasionally. If we're having one of those days it's great to know I have something special up my sleeve. I really appreciate that there's no sugar added, it's so hard to find delicious recipes without at least honey or maple syrup. And, thank you so much for including grams on the recipe - very helpful!
Asha
I love, love, love the concept of this recipe; however, I made them today and they would not cook through. After the 35 min mark I ended up putting tin foil over the pan and baked for another 30 min but they were still completely raw. I had to trash them. The only deviation from the recipe that I made was to replace the spelt flour with whole wheat pastry flour. I've never had trouble making this substitution before, but do you think that it may have been the problem? Others in the comment section seemed to have great success with this recipe so I'm eager to figure out where I went wrong!
Amy
Hi Asha, I'm sorry you had no luck with the recipe. I have no idea what could have gone wrong here as I have never had a issue with the recipe and many people have told me that they have loved it. I'm sorry I can't be of more help. Perhaps try it with the spelt flour as see if it works better for you?
Sarah
I’m wondering if your oven isn’t get up to temperature. Try an oven thermometer to double check. I’ve had that sort of thing happfor n b fore realizing my oven runs colder than it thinks!?
Falon
Hi, this sounds delicious, i can't wait to make this. Can you tell me what spelt flour is or is there maybe something i could use in place of that? I don't remember seeing that in the grocery store.
Thanks!
Falon
Sorry, i just read the other comment saying what i could use instead 🙂
Amy
Great! Hope you enjoy! ?
Generic
Very healthy but absolutely tasteless... sorry.
Trisha
Hi! Could you use oat flour for these? Or whole wheat? Thanks!
Amy
Hi Trisha, I'd replace it with the whole wheat, It should work well. I'm not sure oat flour would be a good substitute, I don't think it would hold as well and could be a little mushy. I haven't tried it though so can't say for sure. I hope you enjoy!
Rachel
Can I use olive/ vegetable oil to replace the coconut oil?
Amy
Hi Rachel, I've never tried with another oil but it should still work. You could also try butter. 🙂
Carmen
If I used pumpkin or applesauce instead of bananas do you think that would work or would I need some maple syrup or something. Looks amazing.
Amy
I've not tried it without the banana but I think adding more apple sauce could work well. You may wish to add a little maple syrup if you are looking for something sweeter. Let me know how it goes 🙂
Julia
Made these yesterday and they are brilliant. All the children (and adults!) loved them. My only issue was that they stuck to the paper muffin cases - any ideas on how to avoid this? Many thanks. Trying the banana bread recipe next 🙂
Amy
Hi Julia, I'm so glad you like these and I hope you enjoy the banana bread recipe too. You could rub a thin layer of coconut oil or butter into the cases and hopefully this would stop them sticking. 🙂
Arlene
I made this recipe and it is delicious! You really do not need to add any sweeteners--it's sweet as is! Great recipe! Thank you for posting!
Amy
Thanks Arlene, glad you enjoyed them!
Liz
Hi! Thanks for this recipe. My nursing baby has a lot of allergies so i substituted for flax eggs, hemp milk, rice flour and left out ground almonds and it was delicious !!
Amy
Hi Liz, so glad the recipe still worked with all your modifications and thanks for feedback 🙂
Abby
I put the cored Apple, baby carrots, and almonds in my blend tech and chopped them all up. Then I added the rest of the ingredients and mixed it all up right in the blender! Turned out great:)
Amy
Great, glad they were a success and thanks for commenting 🙂
Elisabet der Nederlanden
Thank you Amy for this great recipe. I made them for my sons preschool today for bring along class snack. They are so good! The preschool is nut free but I just replaced the ground almonds with whole wheat flour. I also baked them in mini muffin tin/ papers. It made 48 and they baked in 15 minutes if anyone needs that!
Thanks again, I'm so glad I found your blog with all these healthy recipes for our kids!
Elisabet
Amy
Hi Elisabet, I'm so glad you liked them. Thanks for your kind comments and for the cooking times for the mini muffins. I'm going to make mini ones next time ?
Sheik
I really didn't think I would like these because of how healthy the recipe looked lol BUT I was wrong, I love them. I used gluten free flour, egg whites and omitted the walnuts (only because I didn't have any) and they came out GREAT!!! Thanks for sharing this recipe! Oh and My 2 teens even liked them!
Amy
So glad you liked them and thanks for letting me know! ??
Kim
Can I substitute wheat flour for the spelt flour? I am not sure if I will be able to find it. Thank you so much for posting a no sugar recipe!
Amy
I've not tried it with any other flour but I'm sure it would work. Let me know how it goes if you do try it ?? I like a no added sugar recipe for my kids and as they don't eat a lot of sugar they find these muffins sweet enough 🙂