I can't get enough of these muffins. They taste like carrot cake with cream cheese frosting, but are a million times easier to make and will save you a ton of time. Once you try these Carrot Cake Cream Cheese Muffins, you're going to be dreaming about them for days. I loosely used Nora Cooks' 1 Bowl Vegan Carrot Cake recipe as a foundation for this recipe and then adapted it into a muffin recipe. These muffins are stuffed with your favorite fall spices and delicious creamy cheese pockets.
TOTAL TIME: 30 minutes
SERVINGS: 10-12 muffins
INGREDIENTS:
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 medium carrots (grated)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup milk of your choice
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 cup apple sauce
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Dash of vanilla extract
RECIPE:
Preheat your oven to 375° F and line a muffin tin.
Mix together your flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Add in the carrots, milk, oil, apple sauce, and vanilla. Mix everything until just combined.
In a separate bowl, beat your cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until well combined.
Fill each muffin tin about 1/3 of the way with the carrot cake mixture. Add a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture and fill the carrot cake mixture to the top of the tin. Add another spoonful of the cream cheese mixture and using a butter knife, swirl the cream cheese with the carrot cake batter. Repeat until you run out of batter.
Bake for 18-20 minutes at 375° F. Let them cool for about 10 minutes before serving.