I often select a recipe because I have a lot of one or more ingredients to use up. In this case, I had a lot of carrots and canned pumpkin to use up. I also just finished soaking and roasting a big batch of raw pumpkin seeds. Did you know how important it is to soak and roast your nuts and seeds? I talk about it here, Sprouted Lentils with bone broth and veggies: lunchbox. You can also find a lot more information here.
I make a lot of muffins because I use them as pre breakfast snacks for the kids. Most days my schedule does not allow for the coveted afternoon workout. Which means my alarm goes off at 4:03 am. Why 4:03 am, because it sounds better to me than 4:00 am. Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a hugely passionate about training! I cannot remember a time when I have not found some way to hold a consistent schedule…through two twin pregnancies, through breastfeeding, on vacation, on vacation while pregnant and even on my honeymoon. It’s never been a “have to” thing for me. I LOVE it! It gives me many gifts…mental clarity, stress tolerance, physical resilience and overall health. I could go on, but we are here to talk about muffins. 🙂
Ok, back to the massive muffin production…Every morning, I make a snack of applesauce and a muffin covered in organic butter. I use the applesauce as a vehicle to deliver DHA/EPA (you know those kiddos have to have it every day), vitamin D/K2 and a probiotic capsule (just open it up and dump the powder in). The boys get up around 6:15 and the girls are up by 7:00 (now that they are out of their cribs).
Once they are up, they are all ready to go. Having a snack ready for them is a great way to keep the good vibes going while I have time to prepare their breakfast.
I found this recipe from Nom Nom Paleo’s website. You can find her recipe here. I only made a few changes, I give full credit to Nom Nom for the creation and development of this fabulous recipe!! I changed the almond flour for pumpkin seed flour and almond butter for cashew butter. I also decreased the amount of honey and I changed the spices around. My recipe is for a double batch and makes 24 regular size muffins, plus two mini bread loaves. If you don’t want the bread, just make extra muffins or half the recipe. 🙂 It’s super easy to swap things or change them around. Isn’t baking fun!!
6 large eggs
4 medium carrots, grated and squeezed of juice (final volume: 3 cups shredded carrots)
3 cups pumpkin seed flour
1 tsp of cloves
1 tsp all spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 cup canned pumpkin purée
½ cup local honey
4 tablespoons cashew butter
Preheat the oven to 350F and line two muffin tins with parchment or silicone liners. Peel the carrots and chop into quarters. I grated mine in my vitamix. But, you could also use a hand grater or food processor. Use cheese cloth or a sturdy paper towel to squeeze out all of the carrot juice. Save that juice for smoothies, or feed it to hungry toddlers. Mix together the eggs, pumpkin puree, honey, cashew butter. Beat with a sturdy whisk, hand or stand mixer. Next combine the pumpkin seed flour and all of the other dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine thoroughly. Finally, add the grated, squeezed carrots to the batter and stir to combine. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 full and bake at 350F for 30 minutes.
Let them cool completely and store them in the fridge or freeze to keep for long term storage.
These muffins come out perfect and are simply fabulous!!
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