Whole Wheat Carrot Cranberry (or other variations)

I love this recipe and have been tweaking it for months. It started out as a Cream Cheese filled Carrot muffin. I wanted it more healthy and realize it is very versatile. It is super moist and dense and freezes well (just pop a frozen one into the microwave for 30 seconds for a mostly healthy treat).

Whole Wheat Carrot Cranberry Muffin

1 (14 1/2 ounce) can sliced carrots drained (or steam a bag of fresh baby carrots)
1 egg
3 tablespoons apple sauce

2 tablespoons veggie oil
1 cup whole wheat flour

¾ white flour
¾ cup sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (I don’t use salt when using canned carrots)
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
½ bag fresh cranberries (blackberries work well too. Use whatever is in season!)

Place carrots in a food processor; cover and process until smooth. In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking soda, salt and spices. In a small bowl, whisk the pureed carrots, eggs , apple sauce and oil; stir into the dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in cranberries. Fill muffin cups almost full. Makes 12 muffins. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Serve warm.

If you want the cream cheese filling try this:

8 ounces cream cheese

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

Cream these together. When making the muffins put a scoop of muffin batter in the muffin cup. Add a tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture. Fill the remainder of the cup with muffin batter - no need to only fill 2/3 of the way...fill the whole thing up. It's a dense muffin :).

Go over to Blessed With Grace, the host of Tempt My Tummy Tuesday for more delish recipes!!