Carrot and Orange Muffins

I absolutely love making batches of sweet or savoury muffins. It’s a brilliant way to have snacks on the move that will last a few days (maybe) and can be used for breakfasts, snacks or as a pre-training fuel source.

If you love carrot cake, you’ll love these muffins- very similar in flavour and texture but with a little more emphasis on the orange flavour within the muffins too. The recipe isn’t complicated and it’s all in one bowl so there’s limited mess here too!

These even went down well with the kids who aren’t always easy to please! Give them a go and let me know what you think!

Carrot and Orange Muffins

Makes 12

Ingredients

2 oranges

100g unsalted butter

200g caster sugar

2 large eggs

350g full fat Greek yoghurt

80g porridge oats

100g grated carrot

80g raisins

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

180g plain flour (I use wholemeal)

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1/2 tsp salt

You’ll also need muffin cases (these are larger than cupcake cases) and a 12 hole cupcake tray

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180° and line your cupcake tray with the muffin cases.

2. Grate the zest of the oranges into a large bowl. Then cut away the remaining peel with a knife to reveal the orange flesh. Cut into segments, trying to cut with no peel or pith on the segments. Set aside.

3. Melt the butter in a heatproof bowl in the microwave (20 second bursts) and add to the bowl with the orange zest. Add the sugar and mix together until smooth. Then add the egg, yoghurt, oats, carrot and cinnamon and combine.

4. Pop a sieve over the bowl and sift in the flour. Add the baking powder and bicarb on one side of the bowl and add the salt on the other side. Very gently fold the flour into the wet mix being careful not to over mix.

5. Divide the batter between the cases (I weigh mine and allow 100g per muffin). If you’re using cupcake cases I’d aim for 60g per case so obviously you’ll make around 20 cupcakes rather than 12 muffins).

6. Pop an orange segment onto the top of each muffin and if you want a bit of crunch for the topping you can add a sprinkle of Demerara sugar too.

7. Bake in the oven for 23-25 minutes until well risen and golden.