Practical and very easy, the carrot muffins with a cocoa heart are soft and delicious little cakes without butter to enjoy for breakfast, at school, or during free time. They are colorful, cheerful, nice to look at, as well as to eat. The cocoa heart and the presence of coconut in the dough make our muffins very tasty and much appreciated by children.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Portions: 15 muffins
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter, and Spring
Ingredients
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup Potato starch
- 3 cups Carrots
- 2/3 cup Desiccated coconut
- 5 tbsps Vegetable oil
- 1 packet Baking powder
- 1 pinch Fine salt
- 3 Whole eggs
- to taste Lemon zest
- to taste Powdered sugar
- 3 tbsps Unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup Sugar
Preparation
1) Wash, peel the carrots, and blend them. Add the vegetable oil and continue blending until you get a soft and creamy mixture.
2) In the bowl of a stand mixer, put the whole eggs and sugar and whip them until you get a creamy and fluffy mixture. Add the vanilla, the sifted flour with baking powder, the starch (it makes the cakes very soft), the salt, the lemon zest, and the carrot mixture. Mix at low speed just enough to obtain a well-blended batter (a few seconds).
Do not mix the batter for too long, as you risk overheating it, ruining the final result.
3) Now take 120 grams (4.2 oz) of batter and, in a separate bowl, add the sifted unsweetened cocoa; mix and create a solid and well-combined mixture that will be used to create the cocoa heart.
4) Preheat the oven to 340°F.
5) Arrange the muffin cups on a baking tray and fill them halfway, or three-quarters if you prefer them a little more domed.
Now create the cocoa heart, using a teaspoon, take a bit of the cocoa mixture the size of a hazelnut and place it on the orange batter. Continue until all the muffins are filled.
With the help of a toothpick or the handle of the teaspoon itself, gently sink the cocoa part halfway into each cake.
6) Bake the muffins in the preheated oven, at mid-height, for about 20/25 minutes at most. Check the cooking by inserting a long skewer that should come out perfectly dry. Once ready, immediately take out the carrot muffins with a cocoa heart and let them cool before dusting with powdered sugar.
