Carrot Spice Muffin Recipe

This recipe originally comes from the book "The Guide to Healthy Eating" by David Brownstein, M.D. and Sheryl Shenefelt, C.N. I highly recommend this book as it is a very handy reference to good eating principles and follows the views of Nourishing Traditions.

I modified the recipe slightly for our own preferences. (The original used spelt flour and all coconut oil, it also added the eggs all at once, and used yogurt. The original recipe said to bake at 300 degrees F. for 18 minutes, I found that was not enough in my oven)

Carrot Spice Muffins
yields 12

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups Kefir, (we make our own with real milk, no flavors or sweeteners) the original recipe calls for yogurt which is fine
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon cloves
(I subsituted 1 1/2 teaspoons of Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus which is a mixture of cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, ground orange peel, cloves, ginger.--any baking spice/pie spice mixture will be good)
1/3 Virgin coconut oil, melted
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2/3 cup rapadura (unrefined cane sugar)
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup carrots, grated
1/2 cup currants (or raisins)

Combine flour and kefir (or yogurt) in a bowl, mix well. Let sit covered overnight.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Add baking soda, spices, salt and set aside.
In a separate bowl, mix sugar and oils until blended. Add egg yolks, vanilla, carrots and currants (or raisins). Mix this into the flour mixture, blend well.
In a small bowl, whip egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold these into the muffin batter.
Lightly oil 12 muffin cups and fill nearly full with muffin mixture.
Bake at 325 degrees F. for 20-25 minutes. Toothpick should come out of center clean.

Allow to cool and remove from muffin pan. These are very tasty, dense and moist muffins. The beating of the egg whites separately helps give them a little more lift.