These carrot muffins are soft, moist, and not too sweet.  The best part about these muffins is that no one will be able to tell that they were made with whole wheat flour.  I made these for a friend’s birthday and added a cream cheese frosting.  It was the perfect addition of sweetness.  Everyone loved them and several people asked for the recipe.

For these muffins/cupcakes, I prefer to casually spread a light cream cheese frosting over the top (I used the cream cheese frosting recipe posted here).  However, if you prefer a heavier cream cheese frosting that will be stiff enough to pipe after chilling in the refrigerator, use the recipe posted here.  I regret not taking a photo of the frosted carrot muffins/cupcakes.

Whole Wheat Carrot Muffins Recipe 

makes approx. 20 muffins; adapted from here

3 cups of lightly packed, finely grated carrots

4 large eggs, at room temperature

2 cups minus 2 tbsp of whole wheat flour

2 tbsp vital wheat gluten

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 scant teaspoon salt

2 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups of granulated white sugar

1 cup of oil (I used a combination of vegetable oil and extra virgin olive oil.)

1 scant cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts

1 scant cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 300 F.  Line a muffin pan with paper cupcake liners.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, vital wheat gluten, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon and set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the oil and sugar together until well combined on medium speed.  Then beat in the vanilla extract and the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating each egg to the batter before adding the next one.  On the lowest speed, mix in the dry ingredients until well combined.  Then mix in the grated carrots, walnuts, and raisins.  Fill the muffin liners 3/4 of the way up with batter and bake until an inserted toothpick just comes out clean, about 18 or 19 minutes, rotating the pan halfway.  Cool the muffin pan on a wire cooling rack.  As soon as the muffins are cool enough to handle, remove them from the pan and cool them completely on a wire cooling rack.  Be gentle handling the muffins as they are quite soft.  They will become even more moist if you store them covered in the refrigerator.  These freeze well.