These almond flour carrot muffins are super moist, lightly sweetened with honey and even a little fluffy! These grain-free and gluten-free healthier carrot cake muffins are the perfect Easter treat. The reviewers love them! With a dairy-free option.
First up, if you prefer a grain-containing healthier carrot cake recipe, I have you covered! This 100% whole grain carrot cake is the best carrot cake I’ve ever had. Hands down.
Or actually, it’s tied with this gluten-free carrot cake, which is the same exact recipe as the healthy carrot cake, but with gluten-free flour.
If grains aren’t your thing, these healthier carrot cake muffins are awesome. I feel like a broken record, just because I say this all the time, but I used a combination of almond flour and coconut flour to achieve the perfect texture. I want my grain-free baked goods to taste as close to grain-containing ones as possible and these are pretty darn close!
People often ask if there’s a substitute for coconut flour and there really isn’t. And the only substitute for the almond flour would be almond meal (which is a lot cheaper than almond flour!) or another nut flour.
So now that we’ve got the carrot cake muffins out of the way, we need some healthier cream cheese frosting! This is the same cream cheese frosting recipe that I used in my last post on carrot cake scones.
It uses just a little maple syrup as sweetener. I really thought cream cheese frosting without powdered sugar was impossible but this maple syrup version was just as good! It’s quite thick so if you want to thin it out, just add some milk.
I’m just guessing that if you’re interested in grain-free baking, you’re not into mounds of frosting on top of your muffins or cupcakes. The amount that this cream cheese frosting recipe yields is just enough for a thin slathering on each muffin. If you want to pipe it like I did, you can pipe about twice as much as you see in the pictures.
I recommend frosting the muffins right before serving because once you frost them, they need to be refrigerated. They can sit at room temperature for about 4 hours so if you want to frost them in preparation of a party – no problem!
They just taste better and fluffier if you keep them at room temperature and microwaving cream cheese frosting sounds like a bad idea.
Obviously cream cheese isn’t dairy-free but there are dairy-free cream cheeses out there. If you don’t like the thought of using that, just leave out the frosting or use my vegan cream cheese recipe.
It’s naturally sweetened, doesn’t have any unusual ingredients and is also paleo-friendly! Half the recipe should yield enough for a nice slathering on top of each muffin. You can also find my directions for making these carrot cake cupcakes into an 8″ cake on that post.
Want an Easter dessert that’s a little more unique than these paleo carrot cake muffins? Try these blueberry carrot cake bars with granola from Cotter Crunch! They’re gluten-free and dairy-free and look amazing.
And for something with more of a cake texture (like angel food cake!) be sure to give my paleo blueberry muffins a try!
Almond Flour Carrot Muffins
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 8 muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (125 grams) blanched almond flour
- 2 tablespoons (16 grams) coconut flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 2 large eggs (50 gram each, out of shell), room temperature
- 1/3 cup (75 grams) refined coconut oil, melted (if you use unrefined coconut oil there may be some coconut taste to the muffins)
- 1/3 cup (106 grams) honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (50 grams) grated carrots
- 2 ounces (56 grams) cream cheese
- 4 teaspoons maple syrup
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- a dash of salt
- additional milk for thinning, if desired
For the carrot muffins:
For the cream cheese frosting: (for paleo / dairy-free, use a half batch of this vegan "cream cheese" frosting)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F (175 °C). Line a muffin tin with 8 muffin liners.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (almond flour through nutmeg). Set this aside.
- In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, honey, and vanilla.
- Add the dry mix to the wet mix just until combined and then gently fold in the grated carrots.
- Divide the batter evenly among the liners (about 62 grams per liner) and bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
- Let the muffins cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Do not frost until completely cool!
- For the cream cheese frosting, mix everything together until thoroughly combined. If it's too thick for your liking, add a teaspoon of milk at a time until it's your desired consistency.
- Spread a thin layer on top of each cupcake or pipe it on. Do note that if you pipe it, you'll have some leftover if you pipe it as lightly as I did in the pictures.
- Unfrosted muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temp for up to 2 days or refrigerated for 5 days. Frosted muffins should be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
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629 comments on “Almond Flour Carrot Muffins” — Add one!
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These carrot cake cupcakes are quite possibly one of my most favorite sweet treats ever! I added 1/4t. salt because I like a little more salt in my baked goods and I did not make the icing. I also added raisins to some of them which tasted great! I warmed them up and ate them with grass fed butter, cinnamon and salt on them, soooooooooooo delicious!! They froze well too. Thank you for using honey as the sweetener as it’s the only one I’m supposed to use! Awesome recipe!
Aww, yay! I was so happy to read how much you liked the cupcakes. :) Added raisins sound great and it’s good to know that they freeze well! Thanks for the tips and for your feedback. :)
My 8-year-old daughter just made these (with some help from me) for her daddy’s bday. We all loved it. We like to try different things bc my daughter doesn’t like traditional carrot cake and sweets in general. These however, weren’t overly sweet and hit the spot. Thank you so much Erin!
That’s great that your daughter (and the rest of you!) enjoyed the cupcakes. :) And I’m jealous of your daughter not really liking sweets. I wish I were the same. ;) Thanks a bunch for your comment!
can i use butter instead of coconut oil?
I haven’t tried it but I think that’d work fine. :) Enjoy!
I think doubling the amount of carrots would make more like true carrot cake, although this is very good, I increased nutmeg and added one ripe banana. I used coconut flower and regular gluten free flour. Texture was perfect.
I’m happy that they came out well, especially with all your changes! Thanks for your comment. :)
Thanks for this recipe it is very easy to follow…quick to make and absolutely delicious! These are some of the best muffins I have ever made!
My son is intolerant to almonds, is there anything i can use to replace it? Thank you!
Nut flours are usually interchangeable with other types of nut flours so you could try that. And I haven’t tried this myself but supposedly you can make your own sunflower seed flour and it works as a sub for almond flour. I hope that helps!
We recently found out that our 4 year old has celiac disease and so all my family recipes are no longer easy to recreate. Thank goodness I found your recipe and it was approved by the whole family including my 4 year old picky eater :)
I used freshly grated nutmeg and maybe next time I will put a little less and more cinnamon. I love cinnamon! Overall it was perfect, very moist. I just had another one for breakfast! I also loved using the weights. Thank you again and have a great day!
I’m so happy that you found something that your 4 year old and the rest of the family could enjoy! And I agree that more cinnamon is never a bad thing. ;) I’ll have to try these with freshly grated nutmeg and see if that yields a stronger taste than the pre-ground stuff. Thanks a bunch for your nice comment!
I rarely leave reviews because I hardly ever follow a recipe closely enough to feel like I can really comment, but I did this time, and they were great! Okay, I maybe skimped a little on the nutmeg and cinnamon, but I weighed all the main ingredients. THANK YOU for giving weights, I love to cook with a scale–so easy. Plenty sweet for my taste, and texture was nice. Just little oily, but that seems to happen with coconut oil sometimes, didn’t detract cuz we’re not afraid of a little coconut oil. :)
I love weights, too! I wish everyone who made my recipes would use them so that the recipes would come out exactly as intended. ;) I’m so happy that you enjoyed the cupcakes! Thanks a bunch for your comment and taking the time to leave a review. :)
These were tasty, but didn’t quite taste like carrot cake. I thought I’d be able to taste all of the different spices, but all I could taste was the nutmeg. There was a bit too much and next time I’ll just use a little less. They were still tasty, though, and the cream cheese frosting was delicious!
Hmm. Did you use freshly grated nutmeg? I didn’t, so I wonder if that could be it. I’ve never noticed these being especially nutmeg-y. But I’m happy you still liked them! Thanks for your feedback. :)
These look Awesome! Thanks for the recipes.
Thanks, Ashley! And you’re welcome. :)
These are great! I made them for Easter for my niece who is GF/DF/SF, and also made a traditional carrot cake for the rest of us at the party. I was hoping there would be extras for me to take home but everyone really enjoyed these and ate them all before I could sneak any away. I’m so happy to have found a healthy alternative to traditional carrot cake!
Aww. I’m sorry there were no leftovers! But I’m quite happy that everyone liked them so much. ;) Thanks so much for your feedback!
Has anyone substitued the almond flour for something different? Or even did half almond half something else? One of my kids is sensitive to almonds and bothered by carrots during pollen season and I’m thinking those 2 ingredients together might be overload for her and induce her asthma? Any ideas????
Almond flour and other nut flours are only interchangeable with other nut flours so you could try a different nut flour / meal. But if she’s bothered by carrots, I’d suggest finding a different recipe because there’s no sub for it in these cupcakes. Sorry about that!
You can make a “One Minute Muffin” for your allergic daughter using coconut flour or ground flax. You can put fruit or nuts in them if you are just looking for a “cup cake” kind of dessert for this child. Look it up online, there are tons of variety out there.
I’d never heard of those! They look so easy. Thanks for sharing. :)
Cheryl, thank you for that info, I’ll definitely have a look for that recipe. :)
I am making these for the second time – they are that good! I have not made frosting -just eat them as is. Delicious! Thanks for creating a healthier alternative for my carrot cake obsession:)
And thank you for your nice comment and feedback! I’m so happy you enjoyed them. :)
Hi Erin, can these be made without an electric mixer? Just by hand? Also, what type of ginger do you mean? Minced ginger like you would use in asian cooking, or is it a powdery dry ground ginger? Thanks for your help! Emma
Hi Emma! No electric mixer is needed. :) Just mix everything together by hand. And you’ll want to use ground ginger. I hope you’ll enjoy them!
Thanks Erin!
can these be made without eggs? like with phylum husks?
I’m sorry but I haven’t tried an egg-free version! I know one person used flax eggs but since I haven’t tried it, I can’t guarantee it’d work. I hope they’ll come out well if you give it a try. :)
I added nuts and raisins and they came out kind of heavy. Do I need to change the recipe?
They’re light and kind of fluffy without the nuts and raisins so I’m guessing they did weigh them down (though I’ve never had that problem in other recipes!) I wouldn’t recommend changing that recipe because you’re not actually adding or changing anything to the make-up of the batter. Perhaps you could just use less? Sorry I don’t have a better answer for you!
Do you know if these freeze well? or how long they stay fresh? or… what the best way to store them is?
Thanks! :)
They stay fresh for 2-3 days at room temperature (without the frosting) and I haven’t tried freezing them but I imagine they’d be fine. And to answer your other question, I’m not sure about subbing maple syrup for honey. A lot of people do that but maple syrup is so much thinner and less sticky than honey so I never recommend it unless I’ve tried it myself. I hope your kid has a great birthday. :)
Hi! I’m thinking about making these for my 1 year old’s bday party. Do you think I can sub maple syrup for the honey?
Thanks!
Oh, no! I remember typing out a reply but I’m not seeing it here for whatever reason. I’m so, so sorry! I said that maple syrup is more runny and less sticky than honey so I’m not quite sure if it’d work out well. Did you try it out? Sorry again! :(
I used sugar free maple syrup…so not real syrup but it worked beautifully. I have to watch my carbs, so I try not to use anything that is an added carb!
That’s great to know! Thanks a bunch for your tip. I’m happy it worked well!
These look amazing! Could I use olive oil instead of coconut oil and almond flour instead of coconut flour, do you think? Thanks
Thanks! :) Olive oil should work but coconut flour can’t really be subbed. It absorbs a lot more liquid than every other flour and so there aren’t really any subs for it. Sorry about that!
Have you tried these with just coconut flour? I made your vanilla cupcakes and they were perfect! Thanks much.
I’m so happy you liked the cupcakes! Do you mean the coconut flour based ones in the Samoa cupcake recipe? And I haven’t tried these with coconut flour, unfortunately. Coconut flour isn’t really interchangeable with any other flours so I’m afraid it wouldn’t work. Sorry about that!