My mom always made me carrot cake for my
Birthdays
so I was keen to try and makesomething with less fat/calories. I got a box of prunes from Walgreen's and it had a recipe so I thought I would try it out... Why not? Keep in mind that this is (secretly) my second attempt at these muffins (its much easier to portion into a muffin tin). In other words, this is a fantastic recipe because I took away some of the things I screwed up on the first time and I got a few pointers from Chef James Gibson at Salty's. Try them out... I really like them....
Carrot Muffins (Made 26 Muffins)
Calories: 85.6
Protein: 5.6g
Carbohydrates: 14.1
Fat: .6
6 oz Shredded Carrots
8 oz Can Crushed Pineapple
1 Cup Egg Beaters
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 1/3 Cup Stevia for Baking
8 oz Prunes
1 Cup Water
200g Bob's Red Mill Oatmeal Flour
40g Bob's Red Mill Buckwheat Flour
2 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
3 Scoops Muscle Gauge "Cake Batter"
First thing to do is to soak the carrots. I weighed out as many as I wanted and then soaked them in water while I went to the store. James says that this makes them cook quicker in the oven and not come out so hard. I start out with a medium sized bowl and put in the whole can of crushed pineapple liquid and all and the preferred sugar. I do use less than the recipe I found calls for because the protein does have a little sweetness to it.
Next you make a puree with the prunes by throwing it into a food processor with one cup water. This will be helpful with keeping your batter wet enough. To make things easier on myself when scrapping out the prunes I just mixed in the eggs and vanilla too. This makes the eggs a little fluffier and incorporates the really wet ingredients. Add that mixture to the pineapple and sugar. Since I like to make sure I get everything out of the food processor I add the shredded carrots to it with the leftover egg/prune puree to pick up any last bits of it and also make it so that the shreds aren't so long. This is much easier to scrape out of the food processor then the prunes alone....
Now we add the dry ingredients. Add the cinnamon, salt, baking soda, protein and flours. The measurements for the flour is 2 Cups or 240g. I did not like the consistency of the muffins with just the buckwheat flour so I thought I would use only oat because of its soft airy texture it gives to baked items but I wanted to have at least a little structure and integrity to the cake so I added a little buckwheat. Plus the buckwheat is a little higher in protein which helps out overall. I add the Muscle Gauge "Cake Batter" because its great to bake with and it makes what were enjoying a little more well rounded.... Not just chocked full of carbs!
For the muffins I use a 1/4 Cup to measure into the pan. I found when I was attempting to devour my first creation that the batter really sticks to the liners. I felt like I was only getting half of my muffin because it was stuck to the paper. So, I suggest not using them like I did to be lazy and not have to wash the pan.
Cook these on 375 for 18 minutes or until you can poke them with a toothpick and it comes out clean.
Happy Eating!!
If you are interested I'm sure a fat-free cream cheese with some equal or sugar-free vanilla syrup would be fantastic as a frosting on top of these..... I would try but I don't think my tummy would like it..... So I stick to the plain ones.....
I got this recipe from the back of a Deerfeild Farms box of Dried Prunes.
