Carrot Muffins}Muffin Monday

I have managed to raise two sons that love food  – are you surprised?  Not only do they love food but they appreciate good food.  I guess you could call them food snobs.

So when my son Clark started raving about these amazing carrot muffins with white chocolate cream cheese frosting his friend Lizzy had made I knew they must be good. 

Now I am going to use the term muffin here very loosely.  I really don’t thing anything covered in white chocolate cream cheese frosting qualifies as a muffin.  A muffin denoting something for breakfast.

When I was planning the menu for Mummies Night Out I decided I needed to try these carrot muffins Clark was raving about and thought they would make a perfect addition.  I also thought the orange color would look great in my cute candy corn muffin liners my friend Beth had given me!

Now I need to tell you – I don’t care for carrot either.  I don’t like carrot cake but I like carrot muffins thanks to Lizzy.  Although I have to admit I probably would have eaten anything if it had been covered in the amazing white chocolate cream cheese frosting!

The muffins are nice and moist thanks to the addition of crushed pineapple.  In fact they were so moist my cupcake liners had a hard time staying on.

Thanks to Lizzy of Your Cup of Cake for another great recipe!

Carrot Muffins with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Printable Recipe

Frosting:

2 oz white chocolate

8 oz cream cheese, softened

½ C butter, softened

1 tsp vanilla extract

3-4 C powdered sugar

2 Tbsp heavy cream
Muffins:

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/8 C white sugar

1/3 C brown sugar

½  C oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 C shredded carrot, raw

½ C crushed pineapple

1 ½ C flour

1 ¼ tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 ½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Frosting:

Over LOW heat, in a saucepan melt white chocolate.  Watch it close as it will burn easily.  Stir until smooth and let cool until at room temperature.

Mix the cream cheese and butter together and then add mix in white chocolate and vanilla.  Gradually beat in powdered sugar and mix until fluffy.  (Taste along the way so you don’t put in too much.) Mix in heavy cream.

If frosting is too soft, refrigerate in piping bag for a while.

Muffins:

Beat eggs, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth.  Mix in oil and vanilla.  Fold in carrots and pineapple.

In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, and spices.  Mix the dry ingredients into the carrot mixture until just moistened.  Do not over mix.    Bake 20-25 minutes of until the tops spring back.  Let cool and frost.