Carrot Cake Muffins (with homemade butter)!

I'm pretty stinking excited about this one! Two new recipes and they are both great! That's meant to be props to the food, not me. I didn't create the recipes sadly. These muffins are pretty healthy and the butter is super simple. This should provide you breakfast for a few days if you can limit yourself to one a day. 

Luke 18 tells the account of a blind man whom Jesus heals. It was fun to read and picture the man's personality. He is blind but hears that Jesus is in the crowd near him so he calls out to Jesus. He is shushed by those around him but he keeps calling out. Jesus responds to him by asking what he can do for the man. They man wants to see, of course, and Jesus grants him sight because of his faith. 

The man was persistent and then shows gratitude by following Jesus and worshiping him. His testimony was striking enough to cause others to praise God as well. 

His testimony was the most challenging to me. I would love to see improvement on my part when it comes to talking about what God has done for me.

These are true muffins, not "healthy cupcakes". Most muffins I see are loaded with sugar and should be eaten for dessert. These are sweetened with honey and applesauce.

Mine made 11 muffins. Some were pretty tall so I could have done a better job of distributing the batter...

Do I seem more intellectual with books in the background?! That'd be great, but they are my roommate's. She is an English teacher so of the 378 books in our apartment, about 27 are mine. 

The butter maker

Don't worry, these muffins can stand alone (the muffin stands alone, the muffin stands alone, hi ho the derry oh, the muffin...yeah you get it).

But what better opportunity to use my new butter maker! A fellow teacher got this for me as a birthday present back in May and I haven't used it until today. It's so easy, I'm excited to try different flavors now.

Cinnamon Nutmeg Butter

There is no churning here! Just add 1 cup of room temperature heavy whipping cream to the jar, add extras for your flavor, and shake for about 3-4 minutes. You will see the butter separate from the buttermilk and that's when you can strain off the liquid. Rinse the butter with water and you're done!

Carrot Cake Muffins with Cinnamon Nutmeg Butter

1 cup whole wheat flour 

1/2 cup white whole wheat

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup finely shredded carrots (about 2-3 medium carrots)

Preheat the oven to 350° F and grease a muffin tin.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt.

Make a small well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the butter, honey, egg, vanilla, and applesauce. Stir ingredients together until just combined and there are still some spots of flour remaining.

Fold in the shredded carrots just until combined (don't overmix or the muffins will be dense).

Pour the batter into the muffin tin and bake for 18-20 minutes.

The Butter:

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon nutmeg

Pour whipping cream into the jar (you can use a mason jar) and let sit until it is room temperature. Once the cream is at room temperature, add your spices and shake the jar for 3-4 minutes. You will see the butter begin to form and separate from the milk. Now strain out the milk from the butter and rinse with water. Once the liquid is strained out place the butter in the fridge or just spread it on your tasty muffins!