Carrot Ginger Muffins w/ Cottage Cheese

Okay... I had cottage cheese in my fridge and wanted to put it to good use before it expired. I'm always trying to find ways to make healthier classics so the cottage cheese seemed like a great substitute for butter or canola oil. These muffins came out tasting delicious but not exactly "pretty", however, this could just be a result of my baking it for too long. You might end up with better results than I did so don't fret just yet.

I also learned that whole wheat pastry flour is lower in protein and is used to make lighter/airier cakes. So, it was definitely perfect to use in this recipe. But do feel free to use all purpose flour too since some do not like the wheaty taste. I also added a 1/2 T of flaxseed to the recipe. If you add this also, drink LOTS of water!

Set your oven to 350 degrees.

Here are some of the ingredients you will need: flour, eggs, cottage cheese, carrots, sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder, and baking soda.

(I could have rotated the cottage cheese for a better photo... next time)



Mix the dry ingredients together. 1/2 cup flour, 2-4 T of brown sugar (again, depending on your sweetness preference), 1 T of cinnamon, pinch of nutmeg, 1/2 tsp of baking powder, and 1/4 tsp of baking soda.



You can grate your carrots (3/4 cup) and ginger (few pieces, depending on your ginger preference; or use 1/2 T of ginger powder) or do what I did: cut up the carrots and ginger into small pieces then throw it in the blender with the 2 eggs. Pulse it until all the chunks are now chopped up and blended with the eggs.

Pour this over the 1/2 cup of cottage cheese. I used reduced fat but use whatever you have on hand. Combine.



Add additional cinnamon if you like. I love cinnamon so I added a bit more here. Combine.



Now slowly pour and fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.



Should look something like this:



Mix well.

Then scoop the mixture into your muffin tin. Grease the tin well. Yes, that is my measuring spoon making an appearance! You can dust a bit more of cinnamon/sugar on top if you like. I did.



Bake for 20-25 minutes. You see what I mean when I said "not pretty" in any case, they taste delicious. Also, excuse the blur... I often dirty the lens on my camera while cooking and taking pictures.