I love these muffins for the lunch box. They’re chock full of mum pleasing carrot and apple, are wonderfully light, beautifully fragrant and not too sweet. Perfect mid morning snack for the kiddies.
This recipe is one of my favourites, it’s a morphed version of my all time favourite ‘go to’ yoghurt cake. I adore this yoghurt cake recipe not only because it’s deliciously light and smells of fragrant vanilla but it’s a dream to prepare. Super simple. No electric beaters, no food processor or no heavy kitchen equipment needed, just you, a mixing bowl, wooden spoon and in this particular version a muffin tray.
This recipe starts by plonking all of the wet ingredients in a mixing bowl, then adding your grated apple and carrot, and sugar and finishes with the flour and spices being sifted over and stirred through. I use a 1/4 cup measurement to scoop the muffin batter into the muffin papers; it’s really fast with no mess! An ice cream scoop also does the job beautifully!
Off to the oven the muffins go where they spend 15-20 minutes baking until golden perfection. The aromas wafting from the oven as these little beauties bake are delightful, the fragrance of vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cardamom are appetite inducing to say the least. With a light touch, they should spring back telling you morning tea is not far away.
Another wonderful quality of this recipe is the addition of yoghurt. Rather than using milk, I opt for yoghurt which provides these muffins with a much softer unbelievably tender crumb that also gives a far longer shelf life to the muffins. Also, if by some miracle your family doesn’t gobble these muffins up straight away, they are perfect to freeze! Simple pop in a freezer bag, remove as much air as possible and keep in your deep freeze where they will happily nestle for up to 3 months. My method of reheating is to remove the muffins from the freezer, allow to thaw completely and pop in the microwave for 30 seconds to serve warm. Otherwise, they’re fine to pop in the lunch box frozen, by the time little lunch rolls around they will be defrosted and ready to be devoured by a very happy child!
As this recipe is super versatile I’ll be sharing with you guys so many delicious and healthy varieties! Can’t wait and happy cooking!
Carrot apple & yoghurt muffins
Adapted from Donna Hay’s ‘Fast, Fresh, Simple’
Serves 12 (depending on the size of your carrots/apple)
Freezer friendly
INGREDIENTS
¾ cup (180ml) vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 cup thick natural yoghurt
2 carrots, grated
1 red gala apple, grated
½ cup caster sugar
2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp cinnamon, ground
½ tsp nutmeg, ground
½ tsp ginger, ground
¼ tsp cardamom, ground
METHOD
Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin papers. Place the oil, eggs, vanilla paste, yoghurt, carrot, apple and sugar in a bowl and whisk to combine. Sift over the flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cardamom and mix until just combined. Using a ¼ cup measurement, ladle mixture into muffin papers. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked.
Hey! I just made this recipe and they are delicious but I had 2 concerns. 1) Mine didn’t really rise. They came out pretty much exactly like they went in. 2) They are still really moist. Almost like I am concerned they are undercooked, but I baked them for way longer than 20 minutes. Any suggestions?
Your recipes look amazing, I am now following!! Thanks for the help 🙂
Hi Kari! Muffins can be quite tricky, thanks to the shop bought variety most people think that muffins are suppose to rise a lot but that’s not the case and really hard to achieve at home. As you can see in my pics my muffins didn’t rise too much either, and with the addition of carrot and apple through the batter any rise action is even harder to achieve. The cooking time for the muffins really depends a lot on your oven (temp, fan force etc), if the muffins are moist that’s fantastic but if they’re still wet and doughy in the middle perhaps leave them in a little longer next time. My suggestion is to press the top of the muffin to check if they’re cooked, if they bounce back they’re pretty done. You can also insert a skewer to check also, if the skewer comes out clean the muffins are done. So happy to hear that you’re enjoying the recipes! Apologies for my delayed reply! HAPPY COOKING x
Where does one get vanilla bean paste? Or can we use vanilla extract? Thanks for sharing…
Vanilla bean paste is available at most supermarkets or delis but please feel free to substitute with vanilla extract 🙂
Thanks for the help about the vanilla bean paste. I am so wanting to try these. I am gluten free and my husband is not. Have you ever made these w/ a gluten free flour? Or do you have any suggestions on what I could use?
My pleasure. I have never baked the muffins using gluten free flour but I spoke to a gluten free friend of mine and she suggests substituting the 2 cups of self raising flour with 1 cup of almond flour, 1/2 cup superfine brown rice flour and 1/2 cup of quinoa flour. All available from the health food store:-) To ensure you still get rise I would add a teaspoon of baking powder also. Good luck and please let me know how you go with these little babies!
These are getting made as soon as! Thanks,
Great! Report back, I’d love to know how you go! 🙂
Just made these! So delicious and easy! I used Greek yogurt and it really made a difference in the richness of flavor and moistness! My 8 month old loves them as well!
As previous poster noted, I baked mine for about 35 and they’re still quite doughy in the middle. Just an FYI!
Thanks for sharing, I’ll definitely be making these again!
Made these but when I took them out they flopped and still Squidge even after half hour in the oven! Oh well I. Sure they will taste good
Oh no! I hope they tasted delicious! X
Wow! I’m not usually very successful with muffins but these came out amazingly. I cooked them for 25 minutes and they are perfect. Fluffy in the middle and a tiny bit crispy on the top. Just not sure if I will be able to save any for lunches!
YUM! Well done:-) I am so happy you enjoyed them! Happy cooking x
I will right away seize your rss as I can’t to find your e-mail subscription
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Thanks.
Hi! On the right hand side of my blog there is a subscribe button. Just pop in your email address, hit subscribe and you’ll receive updates. Happy cooking x
Just tried your recipe this morning with a few substitutions –
2 apples and 1 carrot instead of the other way around,
1 cup self-raising flour and 1 cup wholemeal flour,
low fat greek yogurt,
a tablespoon of honey for good measure.
Baked them for 20 mins and they came out really moist but cooked. Hubby says it could be sweeter but I reminded him that it was for our toddler. Great recipe! 🙂
Hi, just made these, in fan oven at 160, for 20 mins mine came out perfectly. For my taste I could probably have halved the sugar, or even less, I felt the sugar overpowered the natural sweetness from the apple and carrot… great recipe though!
Hi, I just made these (omitting the sugar) and they’re fab!! Can they be frozen?? Thanks for a great recipe!
Of course. These muffins freeze wonderfully! Simply wrap individually, pop into a freezer bag or container and stash in the deep freeze for up to 3 months. Happy baking x
Thank you! Quick, easy & yummy muffins for my toddler to take to kindy. I added some sultanas too, which added a bit of extra fruity sweetness.
These were so easy and lovely! I substituted honey for sugar, normal flour plus baking powder for self-rasiing flour, didn’t have vanilla bean paste, and it all worked and was delicious! Thank you!
Mine came out perfect. My oven runs a bit hot, but they were done in 18 minutes. Everyone loves these: adults and toddlers. They a really good and a tasty version of yet another toddler muffin recipe. So glad I tried this recipe. I’ll definitely be making these again…soon.
Just made these with the assistance of my 20 months old toddler. They still came out delicious…. Made them as mini muffins and as usual sized muffins – both great!! A fab recipe. Thank you. I look forward to trying others on here.
I was wondering what brnd / variety of natural yoghurt you prefer to use (have not brought it before). Also can you say if greek yoghurt can be used as a substitute in all of your natural yoghurt recipees (I happen to have that in the fridge for making labna at the moment
thanks for the help – cant wait to try these for my 10 month old
I think it’s about time I express some gratitude to these muffins and your blog! I have made these now so many times in different varieties and they’re pretty much foolproof. My 1 year old is mad on them. I use 75 ml of sugar instead of 120 and they still come out lovely and sweet thanks to the carrot / fruit. Also made a batch with chopped dried apricots and almond, absolutely delicious! So versatile a recipe. Thank you!
These are delicious! Will be on my regular to make list. Miss 1 loves them
I was looking for a coconut free carrot and apple muffin and stumbled upon your recipe. My 4 year old and I made them and they were so easy and delish!! I didn’t have enough greek yogurt so I subbed a half cup of buttermilk. They were moist and quite fluffy. Thank you for the great recipe. Definitely will be a staple at our house!
I made these yesterday, with the help of my 6 and 7 years olds. They both liked them and so did I .This will be a keeper.
Just made these and they are absolutely delicious!
I did adapt the recipe slightly after reading the comments about not enough rise and the doughy inside; I added 1/2 tsp of baking soda as well as the self raising, subbed the sugar for honey, used coconut oil instead of vegetable oil (just my personal preference) and added a 1/4 cup of oats and chia seeds. They turned out perfect and rose beautifully 🙂 Thank you!
AWESOME!!! So happy you made the recipe your own! Go mama! Happy baking xxx
Made these muffins today with my two year old and both she and her baby sister really enjoyed them! I left out the sugar as my youngest is only 6 months and just starting blw but added an extra apple and they were sweet enough anyway. Great blog, thanks for all the wonderful recipes!
Wonderful. So happy you enjoyed them. My pleasure xxx
would soya yogurt be ok to use? x
Yes absolutely. Happy baking xxx
These are super yummy I make them for my daughters school lunches. I just modified the recipe by using apple sauce instead of oil and I add a few handfuls of saltanas. I sneakily take them in my lunch too!
Just made these muffins and they are delicious!
Hello, thank you for the recipe. Can coconut flour be substituted and how much? I swapped the sugar for coconut sugar, and added craisins for sweetness ( as coconut sugar is not very sweet), they came out fantastic! My LO has been refusing food lately, but not these, he happily enjoyed them and danced while eating.
Hi,
These are lovely and my kids and I really adore them. I’d love to pop them in their school lunch box but it’s a nut and egg free school, could I substitute anything for the eggs? Or just leave them out and add a dash more liquid?
Thanks!
It would be much more helpful if you could provide volumes or weights of ingredients. One apple or carrot can vary greatly in size!
Hi Natalie – yes of course! I have started doing that with recipes published more recently. Thanks for the feedback. Happy baking! Kayla X