#2,699: Carrot-Coconut Muffins

Here's the April muffin from Food Network's 12 months of muffins in their January 2018 issue.  This month is carrot-coconut with crystallized ginger.  I had fun giving the kids a piece of the candied ginger when I brought the package home...ok let's be honest, it was delivered by Amazon.  LOL  They were so traumatized by the spiciness of it, it took a lot of convincing to get them to try these muffins.  But the ginger flavor is definitely in there but it isn't as over-powering as I thought it might be.

When I first saw this recipe I thought it was going to be too hard or require too many ingredients for my liking, but I had almost everything on hand and just had to get the coconut, candied ginger, and the nuts.  But as much as I love macadamia nuts, I have FOUR pounds of slivered almonds (only paid $6 for them b/c they were on clearance at Sam's club), so I used those instead.  Next time I'll probably try macadamia nuts because they are so good.

I really enjoyed these!  I don't know if I would make them regularly because they aren't my kids favorite muffin, but they are different than what we normally have, so it was a nice change for us.  Besides Chloe (age 8 1/2) keeps asking me to make the roasted carrot-orange muffins so maybe if I just leave the crystallized ginger out of this she'll like these just as much.

As far as what my kids thought...Matthew (6) pretty much took a lick of one and said he didn't like it.  Chloe (8) told me that she didn't think coconut and carrots went well together.  Allison (11) however, loved it.  

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups grated carrots (about 3)

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut, plus more for topping

1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts (I used slivered almonds)

1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

2 teaspoons water

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. Whisk the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, ground ginger and salt in a large bowl; make a well in the center. Whisk the brown sugar, yogurt, coconut oil, eggs and vanilla in a small bowl; pour into the well in the flour mixture and stir until combined. Fold in the carrots, coconut, macadamia nuts and crystallized ginger.

Divide the batter among the muffin cups, filling them three-quarters of the way. Bake until the muffins are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes. Let the muffins cool 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the glaze: Stir the confectioners' sugar with the water in a small bowl. Spread about 1 teaspoon glaze on each muffin and sprinkle with coconut.