carrot and pineapple muffins

When it rains it pours.
Things get worse before they get better.
Misery loves company.
Bad things come in threes.

Turns out I shouldn’t have been complaining about my bad week on Friday night. My week actually got bad 24 hours later when I woke up sick in the middle of the night. All our Sunday Halloween plans had to be cancelled. A dinner date with friends we’d planned for weeks was postponed. All things besides getting through each moment seemed unimportant.

It was a nasty GI bug. I really hope you don’t get it. It was a doozy. I felt the absolute worst for at least 24 hours. And not so great for another 36 hours after that. We’re finally all better (knock on wood) but appetites have been slow to return.

Whenever recovering from an illness, I always feel inclined to make breakfast for dinner. This time was no different. Monday night brought us Joy the Baker’s Lemon Ricotta Waffles. (Stop reading and go make them now! So good. No wait, read on about my muffins, then go make one of the two!) Yesterday, I took a break from baking but bought a bunch of baking supplies so today I could make carrot muffins. I needed to use up more carrots from our farm trip earlier this month. I also needed to use up some canned pineapple tidbits I bought on a whim thinking Willa would like them (she doesn’t). I would usually throw raisins and nuts into a carrot muffin, but I had those pineapples, and nuts are kind of a chocking hazard for lil W. Soooo, below is what I made. And I surprisingly really dig the pineapple. You should definitely give it a go.

Happy Halloween!

Carrot and Pineapple Muffins
1 cup whole wheat flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter (1 stick), at room temperature
½ cup maple syrup (or any combination of honey, maple syrup, or sugar)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup shredded carrot
½ cup pineapple pieces (from a can)

1. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix together the flours, baking soda, spices, and salt.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or a bowl with a hand mixer or using your brute arm strength) cream the butter, sweetener, egg, and vanilla. Once combined, stir in the applesauce.
3. Using a spatula, fold in the shredded carrots and pineapple.
4. Grease a regular-sized muffin tin (or use paper liners) and scoop approximately 1/4 cup of the batter into each muffin.
5. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until golden brown on the edges and a toothpick comes out clean.