Friday, January 10, 2014

Lunchbox Carrot Mini Muffins


While I enjoyed Christmas vacation for many reasons, not the least among them was the fact that I didn't have to make school lunches for the kids. It's not so much the act of making the lunches that bothers me, but the struggle to come up with healthy, portable snacks the kids will actually eat. (I know I'm not alone on this one!)

I always think a home-baked goodie is preferable to a store-bought treat whenever possible. And muffins are the ideal snack to pop into a lunchbox, whether it's for you or the kids. To increase the kid appeal, sometimes I like to go with miniature muffins.


My daughter is a real muffin lover like me, so I decided to get my son on board by enlisting his help with making muffins this week. He sweetly asked me for a journal that he could use as a recipe book for his own personal recipes.


We modified a recipe from Garden of Vegan, using Sucanat (pure dried sugar cane juice) as our healthier sweetener, coconut oil as our fat and a banana for additional sweetness. We included three shredded carrots to boost the vitamin content. I would have liked to add raisins, but the boy wouldn't go for that.


My kitchen partner did all of the pouring and mixing while I located ingredients and later tidied up. It's so nice to have help in the kitchen!


The recipe makes slightly more than what's required to fill two mini muffin pans, so we made three large muffins as well. (You can see we stole a couple of mini muffins before they had even cooled!)


Our experiment was a success. Both my son and I enjoyed the mini muffins and I was able to pop a few in his lunch bag for his first recess snack for the next couple of days.

Now if only I could get them to eat sandwiches...

What's your favourite lunchbox snack?


Lunchbox Carrot Mini Muffins (Vegan)



by Joann MacDonald
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Keywords: breakfast snack nut-free vegan carrots

Ingredients
  • 2 cups light spelt flour
  • 1/2 cup Sucanat or sugar
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 3 carrots, shredded
  • 1 banana, mashed with a fork
  • 3/4 cup non-dairy milk
  • 2 tsp powdered egg replacer mixed with 4 Tbsp water
  • 1/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1 Tbsp minced ginger (from a tube is easier!)
Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line two mini muffin pans with paper muffin cups.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, Sucanat, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

Add the shredded carrots, mashed banana, non-dairy milk, egg replacer mixture, coconut oil and ginger. Stir gently until just mixed.

Spoon mixture into cups. Any extra batter can be used to make a few large muffins.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean.

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Linking up to:

Pure Ella's Potluck Party

4 comments:

  1. :) I really love the fact that your kids are both interested in cooking/baking (and healthy recipes at that!).. They are skills that will benefit them throughout their lives!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you! :) We are trying. Of course, they still like their "treats" and my son complains about eating "organic" stuff. ;)

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  2. Hi
    I would like to try this recipe with dairy milk and real eggs. Any idea how much of each i would add?
    Thank you

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The milk would be equal. Probably one egg. :)

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