Cheesy Carrot Muffins
“Thank you for making some, Mummy!” - for anyone who has a toddler in the house, they will know that this review is way more valuable than 3 Michelin stars. And the best part is - you’ll love them too!
The crispy cheese on top.
That’s where it’s at for me. Don’t skip the step of some crispy cheese on top! This recipe comes together so quickly that you honestly don’t have to make them ahead of time - within half an hour you can have these from conception to plate, and the ingredients are so simple. And if you don’t have exactly what I list here? Improvise! Add or leave out. The main point here is that lunch is such a hard thing to get right - you don’t want to spend ages making it, you don’t want to spend ages eating it, and you definitely don’t want to spend ages cleaning up afterwards. This right here is one bowl, one muffin tray and - trust me - zero crumbs to clear up. Kids and adults alike will eat these and ask for more. That’s a toddler mum guarantee.
This recipe was inspired by Tesco’s courgette muffin recipe (which you can find here), which I love for being written for children to follow. That is a good point actually, if you have children this is a great one to get them involved in making. Or if everyone is just too darn hungry, chuck it all in quickly yourself and just get them in the oven STAT. I changed it to carrot as that’s just something we have in the fridge more regularly, I think we all prefer it in the house too. But you do you! I have also added a bit of spinach and a top tip here is to use frozen spinach (it’s good to freeze some spinach anyway as it goes off quite quickly and is super versatile still as frozen), then you can crunch it up into little bits with your hand, and kids tend to respond to that better. I know my son doesn’t like the feel of leaves (rocket, coriander, big bits of spinach all tend to get peeled slowly off the tongue accompanied by a facial expression I can only describe as utter disgust).
A fun little aside here; we had different coloured carrots from Aldi when I made these for the video and photos, so you will see it has purple bits in it. That really added some nice variation and I really recommend it! But yes - it’s just a plain ol’ carrot.
I recommend using a generous amount of black pepper to give it some nice flavour. I’ve suggested some other flavour enhancers too, but if this is mainly for children they often love things a bit more plain so you can make a decision on that for your household!
Cheesy Carrot Muffins
Makes 12
1 carrot, grated
150g cheddar cheese, grated (I prefer mature)
A handful of sweetcorn
A handful of finely chopped (or crushed by hand, if frozen) spinach
225g plain or bread flour
1 tsp baking powder
50ml olive oil, plus a bit extra for the muffin tin
150ml milk (I prefer whole)
2 eggs
Black pepper
For extra flavour, add a pinch of salt, some onion powder and/or some dried or fresh chives (all highly recommended)
Also needed: a muffin tray
Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF).
In a small bowl, mix the two eggs and the olive oil gently together.
In a big bowl, add the flour, baking powder, black pepper and any other spices/herbs you are using. Mix gently. Add the grated carrot, grated cheese (BUT leave about 1/3 of it to top the muffins with later!), sweetcorn and spinach, mix gently again. Add in the egg and oil mix and then the milk and mix it all well. You will get a pretty thick mix, it shouldn’t be runny.
Scoop it into the muffin tray. I don’t use muffin cases, as I just find them annoying and sticky, I’d rather clean the tray afterwards. You can choose differently! Top with the remaining cheese and bake for about 20 minutes. All ovens are different. Take them out and place on a wire cooling rack when the cheese on top is nice and crispy and golden.
Enjoy and prepare to have to make more very, very soon! The great news is that you can change these up a little bit every time with different vegetables!
Do let me know if you tried the cheesy carrot muffins and share a photo on social media - don’t forget to tag me!
