Root Vegetable Muffins

This past year we started a new, year-round CSA. The winter share was mostly stored vegetables which meant A LOT of roots and cabbage. In an effort to use up the roots and make kid-friendly snacks, I baked several varieties of root vegetable muffins. (Sorry, no pictures yet)

Beet Carrot Muffins were first. These were good enough that the kids at school ate them all up at the Valentine's Day party.

250 g whole wheat pastry flour (2 cups)
50 g flaxseed meal (1/2 cup) or whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil
100 g brown sugar (1/2 cup)
1 large egg
2 cups pureed beets
2 cups shredded carrots
1/2 cup raisins, cranberries, chocolate chips, or nuts

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 12 standard or 36 mini muffin cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, flaxseed meal, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, ginger and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, egg, and beets. Add beet mixture to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Stir in carrots and raisins. Spoon into prepared muffin cups.

Bake until a tester comes out clean, 20-22 minutes for standard muffins, 10-12 minutes for mini muffins. Remove to a rack to cool completely.

Carrot Apple Muffins are pretty basic.

250 g whole wheat pastry flour (2 cups)
50 g flaxseed meal (1/2 cup) or whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup oil

100 g brown sugar (1/2 cup)

1 large egg

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup plain yogurt or unsweetened applesauce

2 cups shredded carrots

1/2 cup raisins, cranberries, chocolate chips, or nuts

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 12 standard or 36 mini muffin cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, flaxseed meal, cinnamon, baking soda, ginger and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, egg, applesauce and yogurt. Add applesauce mixture to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Stir in carrots and raisins. Spoon into prepared muffin cups.

Bake until a tester comes out clean, 20-22 minutes for standard muffins, 10-12 minutes for mini muffins. Remove to a rack to cool completely.

Carrot Parsnip Muffins were my first attempt at using a puree of those vegetables instead of shredding them into the muffins. I found quite a few recipes for carrot or parsnip muffins using shredded vegetable but I wanted to replace all the applesauce in the Carrot Apple Muffins with vegetable. Plus it uses up more vegetables when they are pureed! If you haven't tried parsnips, you should. They have are sweeter than carrots and have a mild flavor that pairs well with spices.

250 g whole wheat pastry flour (2 cups)
50 g flaxseed meal (1/2 cup) or whole wheat pastry flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup oil

100 g brown sugar (1/2 cup)

1 large egg

2 cups pureed carrots and parsnips (cook then puree, add water if needed, from 50:50 to all parsnip)

1/2 cup raisins, cranberries, chocolate chips, or nuts

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 12 standard or 36 mini muffin cups.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, flaxseed meal, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, nutmeg and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, sugar, egg, carrots and parsnips. Add parsnip mixture to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Stir in raisins. Spoon into prepared muffin cups.

Bake until a tester comes out clean, 20-22 minutes for standard muffins, 10-12 minutes for mini muffins. Remove to a rack to cool completely.

Pumpkin Mochi

G started preschool last September. This opened up a whole new world of food. Not only do I feed my own child, but now I make snacks and treats for school events. What will the kids eat? Can I keep the sugar and refined/processed items to a minimum and have them eat it? Oh, and no nuts or anything processed in a facility with nuts.

For the holiday celebration, I went back to my roots. Something so simple and popular it has to be a hit. Mochi! Sure, it's got sugar and extremely refined white rice flour, but at least nothing has seen a nut and, bonus, naturally gluten and dairy free! Plus, G can help make it.

Then J pointed out that kids around here have probably never seen mochi. At least not the kind without ice cream inside. Hm. Do I want to be the mom who sends the weird food? If they try it, they should like it. Maybe if I cut it into fun shapes. And it does jiggle, kind of like jello. Is that good or bad? Well, I'm too busy with holiday and birthday baking to come up with anything else at the last minute, so weird food it is.

I went with pumpkin so it was seasonal and had a familiar pie taste, limiting the weird factor to texture, not taste. G helped mix and cut out the shapes. There is a bit less sugar than most mochi recipes but it is still quite sweet. I am not sure if canned pumpkin puree will work the same or if it will need extra liquid. Note that this make A LOT of mochi.

Pumpkin Mochi

450 g mochiko (1 pound box)
200 g sugar (1 cup)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1-1/2 Tablespoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
112 g melted butter (4 oz, 1 stick, 1/2 cup)
400 g fresh pumpkin puree (14 oz)
2 cups coconut milk
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13-inch and 8x8-inch pan.

In a large bowl, whisk together mochiko, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, whisk together butter, pumpkin, coconut milk, and eggs. Add pumpkin mixture to dry mixture and whisk to combine. Pour into prepared pans. Bake for 1 hour. Cool completely before cutting.