Multigrain Carrot-Date Muffins

This healthy muffin recipe is from the Sprouted Kitchen cookbook. The Engineer and I thought they were delicious! I’ve modified the recipe below to make it lactose-free, but I’ve also put all the dry ingredients first. I find it such a pain to have to wash things like measuring spoons and cups in the middle of a recipe that I’d rather just deal with the dry stuff first, and wipe clean if need be. (I do use dry measuring cups for the flour, but used a liquid one for the almond meal and bran.)

¾ cup whole wheat pastry flour
¾ oat bran (I used wheat bran)
½ cup almond meal
1/3 cup unbleached cake flour
½ cup muscovado sugar (I used brown sugar because I have a surplus)
1/3 cup turbinado sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground ginger (optional)
½ tsp. salt
1 cup lactose-free buttermilk (milk soured with vinegar or lemon juice)
¼ cup margarine
1 egg
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
¼ cup finely chopped Medjool dates
1 ½ cups loosely packed grated carrots

Preheat oven to 350 °F.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift the dry ingredients together, making sure there are no clumps, and whisk. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg and vanilla extract until well combined. Add the dates and carrots and mix.

Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined, being careful not to overmix. Let sit for about 5 minutes for the batter to poof just a bit.

Meanwhile, prepare your muffin tins by greasing them (I found that paper liners stuck to the muffins too much). The recipe should make 12 standard-sized muffins, but I got 15. Pour the batter into the tins (I use an ice cream scoop for this and it makes my life infinitely easier). Sprinkle a bit of turbinado sugar on top of each muffin (I forgot). Bake until the tops of the muffins are just browed and a toothpick inserted inside comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven. When just cool enough to handle, twist each muffin out and turn it on its side to release the steam. Serve warm, or store in an airtight container for 4-5 days.