Name: Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 eggs; 1/2 cup apple sauce, unsweetened; 1/2 cup maple syrup; 1/4 cup milk, I used non-dairy milk; 1 teaspoon vanilla extract; 2 cups oat flour; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; 1 teaspoon baking powder; 1/2 teaspoon baking soda; 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 cup shredded carrots; 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans; 1/4 cup raisins; 1/4 cup softened cream cheese, I used non-dairy cream cheese; 3 tablespoons softened butter, I used non-dairy butter; 2 cups powdered sugar; 2-3 tablespoons milk, I used non-dairy milk; 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Perfect carrot cake muffins, made healthy! Gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free, yet oh-SO delicious. These healthy carrot cake muffins come together in just one bowl, in about 30 minutes!

What You’ll Need to Make Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins

Oat Flour – You can either buy pre-ground oat flour, or simply grind oats into a flour yourself. I always make my oat flour myself because it’s cheaper, and super easy. To do this, place rolled oats into a blender and blend until a flour forms, and no large oats pieces remain.

Apple Sauce – If you don’t have any apple sauce, feel free to use 1/2 cup of mashed banana instead! Though if you do use apple sauce, please make sure it’s unflavored and unsweetened for this recipe.

Maple Syrup – These refined sugar-free carrot cake muffins are naturally sweetened with maple syrup. I love the flavor of maple syrup in these muffins, you won’t even miss the sugar. However, if you don’t have any maple syrup, you can use an equal amount of honey instead!

healthy carrot cake muffins with cream cheese icing on top and milk on the side.

Tips and Tricks

Avoid over-mixing the muffin batter! If you mix too much, your muffins will turn out tough, instead of soft and tender. Therefore, mix all ingredients until just combined, then stop.
Let these healthy carrot cake muffins cool completely before icing. I know it’s tempting to ice and eat these delicious little muffins right away. But if they’re too hot when iced, the icing will melt and slide right off. So practice some self-control, and leave them to cool for at least 20 minutes first!
These muffins are best stored at room temperature, in an airtight container, for up to three days. However, if you live in a warm climate (or are baking these in the summer), you may want to consider storing them in the fridge. If stored in a very warm place, the cream cheese icing may spoil.

Adjust This Recipe to Your Dietary Needs

Make it Vegan: While I haven’t tested this option myself just yet, you should be able to make these vegan carrot cake muffins by substituting the eggs for flax eggs! Or, use this Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer in place of the eggs in this recipe.

Healthy Carrot Cake Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing

5 from 1 vote

Recipe by Samantha Course: Snacks, DessertDifficulty: Medium

Servings

muffins

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Total time

minutes

Ingredients

2 eggs
1/2 cup apple sauce, unsweetened
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup milk, I used non-dairy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups oat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup shredded carrots
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
1/4 cup raisins
For the cream cheese icing:
1/4 cup softened cream cheese, I used non-dairy cream cheese
3 tablespoons softened butter, I used non-dairy butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons milk, I used non-dairy milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit and line a muffin tin with muffin liners.
In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, apple sauce, maple syrup, milk, and vanilla extract.
Add in the oat flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, and salt. Mix until everything is just combined.
Then, fold in the shredded carrots, chopped walnuts, and raisins until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
Bake muffins for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted down the center of one muffin comes out clean. Remove muffins from oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
While muffins cool, make the cream cheese icing by adding all ingredients to a bowl and whisking until smooth and well-combined. Then, spread or pipe cream cheese icing on top of each cooled muffin.

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What You’ll Need to Make Gluten-Free Gingerbread Muffins

Old Fashioned Rolled Oats – It’s super important you use old fashioned/rolled oats in this recipe. Avoid instant, steel-cut, or Irish oats. The first step involves grinding these oats into a flour in your blender. When doing this, try to grind them as fine as possible. Finely ground oats will result in fluffier muffins!

Apple Sauce – I used apple sauce in these gingerbread muffins, because it yields little to no flavor. However, if you don’t have apple sauce, feel free to substitute it with 1/2 cup mashed banana. Mashed banana will give these muffins a slight banana flavor, which if you like banana, I’m sure you won’t mind.

Molasses – Any and all gingerbread recipes contain molasses, which is how they get their signature dark-brown color. Don’t skip the molasses, it’s super important for both the flavor and structure of these muffins.

Ground Ginger – Wouldn’t be gingerbread muffins without some ginger! This recipe packs in tons of that spicy ginger flavor, which I personally LOVE. However, if you want a more subtle ginger flavor, go ahead and use just 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger instead.

three gluten-free gingerbread muffins stacked on top of each other.

Tips and Tricks

Use a large cookie scoop or 1/4-cup measuring cup to fill your muffin tin. This’ll ensure even-sized muffins, with that beautiful dome on top!

For extra sweetness, top your muffins with a simple 2-ingredient powdered sugar glaze. To make it, whisk together 1/2 cup powdered sugar with 2-3 tablespoons milk. Once smooth, use a spoon to drizzle glaze over cooled gluten-free gingerbread muffins.

Store these muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Or, to make them last longer, pop them in the freezer for up to 3 months!

Adjust This Recipe to Your Dietary Needs

Make it Vegan: While I haven’t tested it myself, you can try replacing the eggs with either two flax eggs or by using your favorite vegan egg replacer. I’ve used this Bob’s Red Mill Egg Replacer in a number of other recipes and have always loved it!

Gluten-Free Gingerbread Muffins

4 from 27 votes

Recipe by Samantha Course: Snacks, DessertDifficulty: Easy

Servings

muffins

Prep time

minutes

Cooking time

minutes

Total time

minutes

Fluffy and perfectly spicy gluten-free gingerbread muffins! The perfect festive snack, that comes together in the blender. Oats, molasses, and ground ginger make these gluten-free gingerbread muffins healthy AND delicious!