More Muffins: Carrot Raisin

I recently mentioned how my muffin baking is sparse and slightly erratic, but after my fantastic strawberry muffin success, I'm falling more in love with muffins. What I especially like about homemade muffins is the amount of control I have over the ingredients, and therefore, the taste and health quotient. I'm not a fan of the jumbo bakery muffins, loaded with butter or oil, and I've never understood the allure of chocolate muffins (just make cupcakes if you want to use cocoa powder!). But the muffin recipes I have my sight set on call for alternative sweeteners, like the honey used here, and hearty flours, and flavorful add-ins. These carrot raisin muffins are adapted by me from a basic rice muffin recipe I found; at first, regular sugar was called for, but I found that honey works better with sweetening, without being overbearing and heavy. The cinnamon and nutmeg work well with the raisins, and the carrots add a freshness that could be acquired with zucchini, or shredded apple perhaps. No matter what is stirred into this muffin base, I'm certain that they will turn out as light and tasty as these ones did.

Carrot Raisin Muffins

Yield: 1 dozen

Ingredients:
2 tbsp. canola oil
2 eggs
½ cup milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup honey
1 ½ cup rice flour
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. fresh nutmeg
½ cup raisins
1 cup shredded carrots

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line or grease muffin tins.
2. Mix butter and honey. Beat in eggs.
3. Mix together flour, salt, baking powder, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add flour mixture to egg mixture alternately with milk. Add vanilla. Stir in raisins and carrots. Pour into muffin tins and bake for 18-20 minutes