Carrot Cake Muffins: Part Deux

Remember these Carrot Cake Muffins?  My husband and I really could not get enough of these!  But one thing that did bother me about the original recipe was how much oil was in them.  At the same time, my curiosity peaked about coconut oil.  After some research, I thought… why not replace the vegetable oil with coconut oil? 

First of all, what are the benefits to coconut oil?  Now, I’m going to preface this by saying I’m not a dietician or nutirsionist  by any stretch of the imagination.  BUT, I’m a damn good researcher via google ;).  

Coconut oil is actually a heart healthy food that actually increases your  resistance against bacteria and viruses such as candida and yeast infections.  Also, coconut oil has been proven to increase the good HDL cholesterol in the blood to help improve cholesterol ratio levels.  (see Dr. Oz, for more info).  Andddd..my husband can’t get enough of coconuts.  I mean anything from coconut water to coconut drinks, he loves this stuff! With that, I edited the original recipe (see below) to incorporate the coconut oil.  

The only two edits I made was substituting the vegetable oil for coconut oil.  If you have ever used coconut oil before, you’ll know that it can solidify even at at room temperature.  In order to measure the oil, I simply popped it in the microwave for short 15 second intervals until enough of the mixture was pourable.  Because the coconut oil tends solidify easily, the mixture was thicker than the original recipe.  So I decided to use 8 ounces of crushed pineapple in order to make the batter a bit more viscous.  The result?  I actually enjoyed this better than the original.  Although the coconut oil did not add any more coconut flavor to the muffins, I found that the cupcake came out more moist and browned nicer than the previous version.  Hope you guys enjoy this version.  Do you guys have any great recipes or uses for Coconut Oil?

-P

Carrot Cake Muffins with Coconut Oil

• Servings: 12 muffins
• Time: 45 minutes
• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients

• 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1 Tsp Baking Soda
• 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 Tsp Salt
• 1-1/2 Tspns Ground Cinnamon
• 3/4 Cup Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Coconut Oil
• 2 Eggs
• 1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 Cup Shredded Carrot (approx 1 carrot)
• 1/2 Cup Shredded Coconut
• 8 ounces of crushed Pineapple

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Mix Flour, Baking Soda, Baking Powder, Salt, Cinnamon and Sugar.  Make a well in the center and add Coconut Oil, Eggs, and Vanilla Extract.  Mix until smooth
3. Stir in carrots, coconut, and pineapple with a wooden spoon or spoonula.
4. Place cupcake wrappers into the muffin tin and pour the batter into each cupcake tin equally
5. Bake for approximately 25 minutes at 350° F.