The recipe was supposed to be a way to use up all the extra pulp and fiber from juicing. That’s one of the disadvantages of juicing – all the leftover solid, fruit/veg mix that gets thrown out. If you’re a composter, you’re fine, lots of wonderful pulp to throw in the compost pile. I am not a composter; I’ve taken students to a composting center where we looked at indoor composting kits with worms. For some reason my roommates are against the idea keeping worms in the apartment…
As I was looking for recipes, I struggled to find one that met my needs. I wanted a recipe that was mostly vegan or at least easily adaptable to vegan and didn’t have too many weird ingredients. This recipe was close enough. By substituting the applesauce and grated carrots for my leftover carrot-ginger-pear pulp and using vegetable oil, I had all the ingredients I needed already in the apartment.
These are good, super good. My expectations were a little low, but these exceeded anything I could have dreamed of! The muffins are amazingly moist, tender and flavorful. The little bit of fresh ginger shines through like a diamond. The top is just a bit crunchy from the flax seed. I ate one everyday for breakfast and these stayed fresh for the whole week. You would never guess this is vegan or semi-healthy.
If you’re a fan of carrot cake, I imagine it would be pretty easy to add some raisins, walnuts, and a whipped coconut milk frosting to make these guys into a lovely vegan treat! I have a vision, it’ll come to fruition one day. But before I turn a solid breakfast into a dessert, you should make your own muffins, start the day off right!
One Year Ago – Margarita Whoopie Pies
Vegan Carrot Ginger Muffins
Adapted from Oh She Glows
Yield – 12
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon ground flax seed
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup + 2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup + 3 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrot, pear, & fresh ginger **
- Preheat the oven to 400. Line 12 cupcake cups with paper liners and spray the paper liners with cooking spray. Set aside
- Whisk together the flour, sugar, flax seed, powder, soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt in a medium bowl.
- In a smaller bowl whisk together the maple syrup, oil, water, vanilla, and grated carrot mixture.
- Stir the liquids into the dry until just combined.
- Portion equally among the 12 muffin cups and bake for 15-18 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack and remove the paper liner.
- Once cooled, store in an air proof container for up to a week.
** I used the pulp left over from making a carrot, pear, ginger juice. I used about 6 carrots, 2 pears, & a 1” piece of ginger. If you don’t have leftover pulp from juice, grate 1 1/2 cups worth of carrot and add 1/3 cup of applesauce. Grate in fresh ginger if desired, but the fresh ginger gave fantastic flavor!
