30 Days of Pumpkin-Day Eleven: Pumpkin Carrot Ginger Muffins

I've never cooked with Candied Ginger before.  This is mostly because I'm cheap.  I see the containers of candied ginger in the store and think, "They want to charge HOW much for that small amount!!!"  Then I walk away.  Sad.  And Ginger-less.  Until the grocery store decided candied ginger was a seasonal item they no longer wanted to stock.  I scored a 4 oz container for 89 cents!!

Of course, when I got home I had no idea what to make with it.  So I googled around and found a recipe for coconut, carrot, pumpkin spice bread from The Gouda Life.  I changed things up and made muffins instead!

The recipe calls for 1/4 cup of chopped candied ginger.  I thought this was going to use up the entire container, but to my surprise, it barely made a dent in it!

I didn't think these muffins had a carrot or a pumpkin taste to them at all.  The veggies are completely masked by the coconut, pecans and ginger.  I find that it's dishes like this that convince kids veggies aren't bad, they're just prepared that way.  Kind of like Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit, but not.

Pumpkin carrot ginger muffins adapted from The Gouda Life makes 22 muffins
3 eggs
1 c vegetable oil
1 c brown sugar
2 t vanilla
½ c pumpkin puree
1 c whole wheat flour
2 c all-purpose flour
2 T ground flax
¼ c rolled oats
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
1/2 t baking powder
2 t cinnamon
3/4 t nutmeg
½ t cardamom
2 c coarsely grated carrots (this is about 2 carrots)
¼ c diced candied ginger
½ c shredded coconut, toasted
1/4 c pecans, toasted and rough chopped

Preheat oven to 350.  In small bowl, whisk eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla and pumpkin til smooth. Set aside.
In large bowl, mix flours, flax, oats, baking soda/power, salt and spices. Add wet to dry along with carrot, coconut and pecans. Fold together just until you can’t see flour anymore. Don’t over mix . With a large cookie scoop, place one scoop of batter in a muffin cup lined with a paper muffin cup. Bake 20-35 min until toothpick comes out clean.  Extra muffins can be stored in the freezer.  To defrost peel off paper, wrap muffin in paper towel, and microwave for 15 seconds.