Carrot Zucchini Apple Sauce Cranberry Orange Muffins

Mi amigo Charlotte Cowan was in the midst of a physically and mentally stressful time. After she fell on the ice while walking and fractured her elbow (on her writing arm!).

I decided that as a friend, I can attempt to sympathize with what that might mean for her, but due to Charlotte’s stubborn independence, she rarely asks for help and is masking her inevitable stress with composed and retrospective humor.

So, with leftover DSU market cranberries and carrots in my freezer and a whole lot of love for my girl – behold Charlotte-inspired one-handable potentially one-biteable Carrot-Apple-Cran (Carrappleberry?) Muffins for the Gluten-Free and Vegans of Dal.

Carrappleberry Breakfast Muffins

Ingredients: (makes 12 large muffins)

Several Carrots, grated (I did about 3 large)

1 Zucchini

Applesauce (½ c)

1 mashed banana

Oats (¾ cup)

Baking Soda/Baking Powder (1:2 ratio, about 1tsp soda)

Cranberries/Blueberries/Any Berries!  (up to you, I like lots!)

Cinnamon (1 tsp or more if you want a warm carrot cake feel)

Maple Syrup (½ cup)

Water (about a cup, can also substitute for milk)

Additionally, you can top with walnuts (you can even caramelize them if you’d like!) or other seeds like pumpkin seeds, sunflower, chia, poppy, etc.

I sometimes add in Orange Zest and juice (be careful to add less of your liquid from the recipe above if adding juice to ensure muffin rather than gloopy consistency if you do this!) or I’ll add in chocolate chips, and I imagine that cinnamon chips would also be unreal in this recipe!

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Celsius
• Grate carrots and zucchini
• Mix all ingredients excluding zucchini, carrots, berries and toppings together
• Fold in zucchini, carrot, berries and chosen toppings
• Gage your muffin tin size, but for muffins with a 4 inches diametre and about 2 inches tall, I baked for 30-35 min.
• Enjoy over tea or as a satisfying one-handed midday snack! Yum!