I’ve been making these muffins regularly for the past several months and we absolutely love them! They’re great as a grab-n-go breakfast or a mid-morning snack to hold you over until lunch time. Mr. Nurture, who’s not even really a big fan of muffins, absolutely loves them, and Baby Y? He’s a total fan too 🙂

I found this recipe from Martha Stewart, and the first few times, I followed the recipe exactly. Once I was comfortable, I started what would be a month-long tweaking of the ingredients and the method, until I had what I thought was the perfect muffin…

…That is until last month, when I tried making them with freshly ground whole wheat flour from my new Wondermill grain mill!

Seriously, if you’ve never milled your own flour, do yourself a favor and try it at least once. The resulting flour is just divine! Perfectly ground, light and fluffy (even the whole wheat!), and the smell… oh, the smell. I didn’t even know grinding up wheat berries would smell so wonderfully!

I was so excited to try these when they came out of the oven, but I held myself back and allowed them the proper cooling time before handing one to Mr. Nurture, my resident taste tester. 🙂

One word: Awesome.

I’ll take that as a success in my book!

The main players here are carrots and oats, with a bit of mashed bananas, coconut flakes, and cinnamon. With just half a cup of brown sugar and the natural sweetness of the bananas, these muffins are great on their own or as an after-dinner treat.

I also used organic coconut oil instead of the original EVOO called for in the recipe. Because of coconut oil’s low melting point, it’s very important to either use room temperature ingredients, or mix up the ingredients exactly how I explain below, to keep it from solidifying in the batter!

We’ll start with our dry ingredients. Mix up the first 7 ingredients until there are no lumps.

Then add the oats and coconut flakes.

Then add the egg, milk, vanilla, and banana and stir very well. Ideally, these ingredients should be room temperature so they don’t harden the coconut oil in the next step. But if you mix them in first and then add the coconut oil, you should be fine.

Add the coconut oil and stir until blended.

Finally, add the shredded carrot and mix until it’s distributed throughout.

Grease your muffin pan with coconut oil. (I just brush it onto each muffin cup with a pastry brush.) Use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to  scoop the batter into the muffin cups.

Pop them in the oven for about 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring them to cooling racks.

These muffins are so versatile, you could totally change up the add-ins to suit your tastes. The original recipe calls for raisins, instead of coconut flakes, so you could try that. Or you could do dried cranberries, or switch out the bananas with apple sauce, or add some nuts… Really, the possibilites are endless!

Do you use pre-ground or freshly-ground flour in your baking? Have you ever considered using a grain mill to grind your own flour? If you make these muffins, what other add-ins would you try? Please share in the comments!

Carrot-Oat Coconut Muffins

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (freshly ground is best!)
• 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats (NOT instant!)
• 1/3 cup coconut flakes
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil, melted + more for greasing pan
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 4 medium carrots, shredded
• 1 medium ripe banana, mashed

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush a 12-cup muffin pan with melted coconut oil.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt until there are no lumps.
3. Stir in oats and coconut flakes.
4. Add beaten egg, milk, vanilla, and mashed banana, and stir until blended. Then add coconut oil and stir. Add shredded carrot and stir until distributed throughout batter.
5. Fill each muffin cup with 1/3 cup batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a muffin comes out clean, 23 to 25 minutes.
6. Let muffins cool in pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling racks.
7. Muffins will keep at room temperature for few days, then should be stored in the fridge to maintain freshness (if they last that long!).