These sourdough carrot muffins are naturally sweetened and have a fluffy spiced cake paired with a cream cheese filling, and topped with oat streusel. It’s a delightful combination for any time of year.
The air is starting to feel chilly, pumpkins and apples have begun lining the tables, and the last of the summer vegetables are being pulled from the garden.
Carrots are one of my favorite things to grow, being that they are so simple. Just spread the tiny seeds, water, thin out a bit, and be surprised every time you pull them out of the ground.
An easy-growing root vegetable that yields big results. So, what do you do with your carrot harvest?
You can roast them, ferment them, put them in soup, or bake them into a muffin. Hiding veggies in a muffin is an amazing way to get the pickiest of eaters to eat their veggies.
Add in some cream cheese filling and sprinkle with streusel topping, and you’ll find they won’t mind one bit.
These muffins are a delicious combination of hearty and sweet flavors without any refined sugar. Nothing hits the spot quite like a warm muffin straight from the oven.
Easy Recipe With Sourdough Starter
This recipe can be whipped up in a pinch, or long fermented to get the healthful benefits of fermented grain. Just one reason we love sourdough so much here on the farm.
Use discard or active sourdough starter. Either will work.
If you are new to sourdough recipes, make sure to check out how to make a sourdough starter here and how to care for one.
A Few Tips On Making Sourdough Muffins
- You can choose to do either the streusel topping or the cream cheese center, or both, or neither one.
- Add a 1⁄4 cup of raisins or nuts, if you desire.
- Bake the muffins in the upper third of the oven for a better rise.
- Make sure not to over-mix the muffin batter. Muffins will be dense and tough if you mix the batter too much. Just stir with a spoon until the ingredients are just combined.
- Let the batter rest in the fridge for at least an hour if you have time, as this will really help in getting domed muffin tops.
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Tools you may need:
Measuring cups and spoons
Large bowl
Stand mixer (for long fermented version).
Nutrimill (optional)
How To Make Sourdough Carrot Muffins
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Grease muffin tin well, or line with paper liners.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the spelt flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices.
In a separate large bowl, whisk together melted coconut oil and coconut sugar, then incorporate one room-temperature egg at a time.
Next, stir in sourdough starter, crushed pineapple, and grated carrot. No need to drain any water off the carrot. You want the extra moisture in these muffins.
Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. If you have time, allow mixture to sit in the fridge for one hour, as this will give the muffins a better rise.
For the cream cheese filling:
Vigorously whip together softened cream cheese with maple syrup in a small bowl until it’s light and fluffy.
Make The Streusel Topping
In a separate small bowl, combine oats, spelt flour, coconut sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well.
Incorporate cold butter until small pieces are evenly distributed in the mixture.
Put Carrot Muffins Together And Bake
Distribute half the muffin batter into the prepared muffin wells. Evenly distribute the cream cheese mixture across the 12 muffin tins, then cover with the remaining half of the muffin batter.
Top with the streusel mixture.
Bake in a preheated oven at 425 for 5-6 minutes, and then drop the oven temperature to 350 (no need to open the oven door) and continue to bake for 13-15 minutes (total bake time is around 20 minutes).
Test muffins with a cake tester. Allow to cool.
Long Fermented Sourdough Carrot Muffins Version:
Mix together flour, sugar, sourdough starter, and melted coconut oil. Cover and allow to ferment for 8-24 hours.
The next day, add shredded carrots, salt, leaveners, spices, and other remaining ingredients. Mix until just combined (I recommend using a stand mixer). Bake as directed the next day.
Storage
Place in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or freeze for up to three months.
Find More Desserts Straight From The Farmhouse:
- Sourdough Pumpkin Roll
- Fudgy Sourdough Brownies
- Gluten Free Lemon Cake
- Sourdough Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
- Sourdough Pumpkin Cobbler
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars! Thank you! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone
Sourdough Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups spelt flour, can also use all purpose or freshly milled wheat
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
Wet Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups grated carrot, 150g
- 1/2 cup sourdough starter
- 1/4 cup crushed pineapple
Cream Cheese Filling:
- 4 oz softened cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
Streusel Topping:
- 1/4 cup oats
- 1/2 cup spelt flour
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch salt
- 4 tablespoons cold butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Grease muffin tin wells or line with paper liners.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the spelt flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and spices.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together melted coconut oil and coconut sugar, then incorporate one room temperature egg at a time.
- Next, stir in sourdough starter, crushed pineapple, and grated carrot.
- Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.
- Optional- Allow the mixture to sit in the fridge for one hour.
- Vigorously whip together softened cream cheese with maple syrup in a small bowl until it’s light and fluffy.
- In a separate small bowl, combine oats, spelt flour, coconut sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well.
- Incorporate cold butter until small pieces of butter are evenly distributed in the mixture.
- Distribute half the muffin batter into the prepared muffin wells.
- Evenly distribute the cream cheese mixture across the 12 muffin tins, then cover with the remaining half of the muffin batter.
- Top with the streusel mixture.
- Bake in a preheated oven at 425 for 5-6 minutes, and then drop the oven temperature to 350 and continue to bake for 13-15 minutes.
- Test muffins with a cake tester. Allow to cool.
Notes
- You can choose to do either the streusel topping or the cream cheese center, both or neither one.
- If you really like nuts and raisins in your carrot cake, add 1⁄4 cup for more texture.
- Make sure not to over-mix the muffin batter. Muffins will be dense and tough if you mix the batter too much. Just stir with a spoon until the ingredients are just combined.
- For a better rise, let the batter rest in the fridge for at least an hour.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Pin It For Later
Can all purpose einkorn or whole grain einkorn be used with this recipe?
Hi, I am finding delicious success with every recipe of yours from Crepes to Bread and pancakes galore! I decided to try these muffins because I had juiced some carrots and apples and had the pulp leftover! I only had frozen pineapple so I warmed it in the coconut oil! The cream cheese center is so good and so easy with 2 ingredients! I love all the cooking and homemaking tips, so inspiring!
Thank you so much for the kind words! So glad you are enjoying my recipes. Have a great day!
Hi Lisa!! I don’t have spelt flour, but I do have AP Flour and Whole wheat flour… I am leaning to use whole wheat, would the amount of it be the same as the spelt flour?
I haven’t tested it, but you should be able to use whole wheat 1 for 1 in replace of the spelt. Let us know how it turns out!
Can I long ferment these?
Yes! You can find the directions within the blog post.
I tried the long fermented version and they are DELICIOUS, BUT I’m not sure they are really fermented. I have a gluten intolerance, but can eat the long fermented sourdough biscuits I found on your blog. In fact, I make them regularly and always keep a bag in the freezer. But the long fermented version of these seemed very dry – so I’m not sure grains are really breaking down like they are with the 2 cups of milk in the biscuit recipe. And, sadly, I was not able to tolerate these muffins like the biscuits. Any thoughts? This is not a criticism, by any means, but I am continually fascinated by this process and would like to better understand the long fermenting so I may be able to adapt other recipes. Thanks for any feedback.
Oh no! Sorry to hear that. In the past, when I had a muffin recipe that was too try for the long fermentation, I added 1/2 cup of additional sourdough starter and it worked great. It made it just moist enough for fermentation and didn’t change how the muffins baked up. So you may be able to try that.
Sounds great! I will certainly give it a try because they are YUMMY!
I am excited for this recipe! My version of the cupcakes is now baking.
My husband and I are living extraordinarily minimal this season and I don’t have muffin tins, but I have a skillet. So I am baking this recipe as a skillet carrot cake. I didn’t have any crushed pineapple, but I read you could substitute a pear for the amount of pineapple in a carrot cake online. So I added pear and I didn’t have any nutmeg so I substituted garam masala for that 1/4 tsp. I also didn’t have any cream cheese on hand, so I whipped up some heavy cream with a little maple syrup and vanilla and will frost my cake with that. What a joy it is to be able to experiment with our baking! Happy baking everyone!
Sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing!
I have been working my way through many of your Sourdough recipes and these muffins are VERY GOOD. I used my dehydrated fresh pineapple that I soaked in hot water. I always throw a little bran in all my muffins. I recommend to everyone to take the time to make filling and the topping. Ohh so yummy.
Oh I love how you used rehydrated pineapple. Glad you enjoyed them
Thank you for the amazingly comprehensive compendium of soudough recipes! Do you have an index page with links to your sourdough recipes, einkorn recipes, etc.?
Please consider making a sourdough recipe for a healthy carrot bran muffin.
I will likely try adapting your carrot muffin recipe to my loaded bran muffin recipe. The ingredients often include whatever I have on hand and think of besides the base (bran, flour (substitute sourdough discard?, almond flour), baking powder, baking soda, eggs, vanilla, oil (coconut, olive, etc.), molasses, maple syrup, etc.)), like: flax, yogurt, carrots, apple chunks or apple sauce, bananas, blueerries, diced pineapple, cooked pumpkin & sweet potato, dried fruits, nuts (walnuts, pecans), etc. I soak the bran & flax & dry fruit (raisins, craisins, dates, etc.) for 30-60 minutes in the liquid ingredients, like yogurt. This is a thick batter. Yogurt can be substituted for milk, whey, buttermilk, partially orange juice, etc. I sometimes thin the thick batter. I bake these in cupcake tins lined with paper cupcake cups, cool, and store in zip lock bags in fridge. (The bottom of the paper cups and tins become oily.) (I’ve used Ina Garten’s blueberry muffin recipe & others, as guidance for these, like for oven temp., etc.)
Great as a breakfast substitute or snack anytime of day.
These are lighter brown if omit (run out of) the molasses, but miss the molasses flavor.
I’ve substituted other sugars, but prefer maple syrup.
I wonder if these could be adapted to use your popover recipe’s high initial heat. Do you think the batter might be too heavy? Temp. too high? Wrong medium?
If include sourdough starter, could I omit the baking powder & baking soda?
You can search my blog posts using keywords like “einkorn,” and all my einkorn recipes should pop up. Let us know how these turn out for you!
I made these recently and I did the long ferment. I was a bit skeptic all because the part you ferment is really thick, but the muffins turned out amazing – everyone in my family loves them.
These are seriously amazing!! Definitely let them sit for a bit before scooping out. So yummy and the texture was perfect!
I’m doing the long fermentation and am wondering if I put this in the refrigerator or keep at room temperature.
Thank you!
KC
I left it at room temperature and it worked well 🙂