Carrot Pineapple Muffins

Invite me to a brunch or a morning potluck and guess what I'm bringing? Muffins, apparently. I can't help it, though. They bake up quick, are portable, and I usually have some type of fruit lying around that I can use for a batch, without having to make a grocery store run.

This batch was for a pot-luck breakfast/brunch picnic that my local running group had a few weeks ago. Everyone was asked to bring something and it was seriously the biggest spread I've ever seen in my entire life. Seriously. I mean... I know that runners like to eat. But holy cannoli, these Nashville Runners like to feast. So needless to say, I basically came home with like 8 of the 12 muffins I took (a muffin just cannot compete with doughnuts, chocolate chip cookies, brownies, etc. Completely understandable).

Anyway, I thought these were good. They contain fruit and I used whole wheat flour, so they aren't entirely unhealthy. Plus... canola oil... that's a good oil, right? They came out moist and sweet. Just the way a muffin should be. (Not better than a doughnut, of course).

Carrot Pineapple Muffins
adapted from Recipezaar user MaeEast

These muffins are a breeze and are delicious. Moist, hearty and sweet. Exactly what you want in a muffin. I used all white whole wheat flour to make them a bit healthier and instead of using crushed pineapple, I used pineapple rings that I finely chopped. I liked having bits of pineapple accompanying the bits of carrots. A great muffin recipe. It makes about 12 muffins.

1 cup sugar
2/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup grated carrot
1 cup drained crushed pineapple

Preheat your oven to 375 and grease a muffin tin or line with paper liners.

Stir together sugar and oil. Add the eggs until well combined. Stir in the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Add carrots and pineapple and stir just until combined.

Spoon into muffin tins, filling to the top.

Bake for 20 minutes or until done. Cool in pan for 5-10 minutes, then remove to a rack to finish cooling.