Gluten Free Carrot Cake Muffins

Need a little pick me up?! These gluten free carrot cake muffins are moist, fluffy, and topped with a cinnamon streusel topping and maple cream cheese glaze. Made in just one bowl, healthy, and bursting with fresh carrot cake flavor.

Muffins are forever one of my favorite snacks because they’re basically like cupcakes, but it’s socially acceptable to eat them at any time of day. They’re an easy on the go breakfast, satisfying snack and are just sweet enough to pass as dessert.

These carrot cake muffins feature freshly grated carrots (which is super easy to do if you have a food processor), a mix of almond flour and gluten free all purpose flour, brown sugar and maple syrup for moisture and flavor, eggs, milk, oil and a whole lot of spices!

They’re topped with a four ingredient cinnamon streusel and finished off with a dairy free cream cheese glaze. Same flavor profile as my gluten free carrot cake cookies!

They truly couldn’t be more easy or delicious. I may or may not have eaten four in one day so I think that really speaks to how good they are, yeah?! You have the option to add chopped nuts, but apparently some people even like pineapple in carrot cake?! That’s a whole new world to me! If you love this recipe, try my almond flour banana muffins or carrot cake banana bread next!

How to make carrot cake muffins

Add the peeled carrots to a food processor and process until broken up and completely shredded. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients until combined. Add in the dry ingredients aside from the nuts and carrots and mix well. 

Fold in the chopped walnuts and carrots until everything is well incorporated. The batter should be pretty thick at this point. Use a medium cookie scoop and add the batter to a lined cupcake/muffin tray. Fill about 3/4 of the way up.

To make the streusel topping, add the softened butter, flour, sugar and cinnamon to a small bowl. Use a fork, your hands or a pastry cutter to combine the ingredients. It should be crumbly and on the drier side. If it seems too wet, add in a bit more flour. 

Use your fingers to crumble the streusel on top of the muffins. Add more than you think you should, the streusel will separate as the muffins bake. 

Bake at 425 for 2 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 and bake for 16-20 more minutes. Careful not to over-bake, you don’t want them to become dry. Test them at 16 minutes, a toothpick should come out clean. 

Remove from the oven, let cool as is for 10 minutes, then remove the muffins from the tray and let finish cooling on a cooling rack. Once cool, whisk together the cream cheese and maple syrup and drizzle on top of the muffins. Try my gluten free carrot cake cupcakes next!

The key to a moist texture

Just because these healthy carrot cake muffins are gluten free doesn’t mean they have to be dry and bland, because I promise they aren’t!

The main ingredients in this recipe that keep the muffins moist are the oil, maple syrup, apple sauce, and non-dairy milk. I haven’t tested this recipe with any replacements, so I recommend sticking to those ingredients in the listed proportions for best results.

The other key is the amount of flour used and the bake time! Too much flour can yield muffins (and other baked goods) that are too dry and crumbly.

However, the almond flour works to both keep the muffins moist and add structure, which is why we use it in addition to the gluten free all purpose flour.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the muffins will continue cooking even after you take them out of the oven.

The muffin tin will still be hot which can dry out the muffins if they’re left in for too long. My suggestion? Remove them and place on a cooling rack after about 10 minutes.

Do you need to add xanthan gum to gluten free muffins?

Even though these muffins are gluten free, you don’t need to add any extra xanthan gum to the recipe.

I recommend sticking with the Bob’s Red Mill GF 1:1 Baking Flour, but if you use a different one just make sure it has xanthan gum in the mix. If you aren’t gluten free, just regular AP flour will work!

Ingredient swaps

EGGS. You can sub the eggs for a vegan alternative, and flavor-wise they will be great, but the texture will be much more dense and the muffins won’t rise as much. I’d suggest either flax eggs or a store bought egg replacer like Bob’s Red Mill.

SUGAR. In most recipes you can use honey and maple syrup interchangeably, but I do not recommend using honey in these carrot cake muffins.

The maple syrup adds a bit more moisture than the honey and makes the final muffins a bit fluffier. If that’s all you have, you can get away with it, but keep in mind the batter will be a bit thicker and I suggest baking for 1-2 minutes less than recommended.

CARROTS. You can swap the fresh carrots for store bought grated carrots, but the texture and flavor is much better with fresh carrots, so I recommend this method. It’s super easy if you just use a food processor or a grater.

FLOUR. If you want to make these nut free, you can swap the 1 cup of almond flour for an additional 1/2 cup of gluten free all purpose flour. If you are not gluten free, simply swap the GF all purpose for regular all purpose flour.

Still hungry? Try these snacks next!

• Gluten Free Blueberry Muffins
• Gluten Free Banana Muffins
• Blueberry Banana Bread
• Gluten Free Banana Bread
• Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins

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5 from 43 votes

Gluten Free Carrot Cake Muffins

by: claire cary

Need a little pick me up?! These carrot cake muffins are moist, fluffy, and topped with a cinnamon streusel topping and maple cream cheese glaze. Made in just one bowl, gluten free, and bursting with fresh carrot cake flavor.

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Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 20 minutes mins

Total: 30 minutes mins

12

1x2x3x

Ingredients

Wet

• ▢ ½ cup light brown sugar
• ▢ ¼ cup maple syrup
• ▢ ⅓ cup oil avocado, vegetable etc.
• ▢ ¼ cup milk dairy or nondairy
• ▢ 2 large eggs
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vinegar I used apple cider
• ▢ ⅓ cup apple sauce
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla

Dry:

• ▢ 1 ½ cup gluten free all purpose baking flour
• ▢ 1 cup blanched almond flour see notes for subs
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ▢ ½ teaspoon ginger
• ▢ ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon cloves
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ 1 ¼ cup fresh grated carrots about 2 large carrots
• ▢ ½ cup finely chopped walnuts optional

Streusel:

• ▢ 3 tablespoons gluten free all purpose baking flour
• ▢ 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• ▢ ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ▢ 1 ½ tablespoons softened butter or refined coconut oil

Cream Cheese Glaze:

• ▢ 4 tablespoons plain cream cheese I used Kite Hill dairy free
• ▢ 2-3 tablespoons maple syrup

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenehit. 
• Add the peeled and chopped carrots to a food processor and process until broken up and completely shredded. 
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all wet ingredients until combined. 
• Add in the dry ingredients aside from the nuts and carrots and mix well with a wooden spoon. Be sure to spoon and level the flour, don’t scoop right from the bag.
• Fold in the chopped walnuts and carrots until everything is well incorporated. The batter should be pretty thick at this point, but that is key to a muffin with a nice round top!
• Use a spoon or cookie scoop and add the batter to a lined cupcake/muffin tray. Fill about 3/4 of the way up.
• To make the streusel topping, add the softened butter, flour, sugar and cinnamon to a small bowl.
• Use a fork, your hands or a pastry cutter to combine the ingredients. It should be crumbly and on the drier side. If it seems too wet, add in a bit more flour. 
• Use your fingers to crumble the streusel on top of the muffins. Add more than you think you should, the streusel will separate as the muffins bake. 
• Bake at 425 for 2 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 and bake for 16-20 more minutes. 
• Careful not to over-bake, you don’t want them to become dry. Test them at 16 minutes, a toothpick should come out clean, but add about 2 more minutes at a time as needed. 15 is usually perfect in my oven!
• Remove from the oven, let cool as is for 10 minutes, then remove the muffins from the tray and let finish cooling on a cooling rack. 
• Once cool, whisk together the cream cheese and maple syrup and drizzle on top of the muffins.

Notes

You can use pre-shredded carrots from a bag if you prefer, but the texture and flavor is much better with fresh carrots, so I recommend this method.

You can sub the almond flour for oat flour, but cut back on the bake time by just 1-2 minutes since oat flour is more absorbent than almond.

You can sub the eggs for a vegan alternative, and flavor-wise they will be great, but the texture will be much more dense and the muffins won’t rise as much. I’d suggest either flax eggs or a store bought egg replacer like Bob’s Red Mill.

Serving: 1muffin / Calories: 276kcal / Carbohydrates: 37g / Protein: 5.1g / Fat: 12.3g / Fiber: 2g / Sugar: 16.4g

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