Carrot Muffins with Cream Cheese Icing

I am really trying to show my son the different ways we can eat food. He loves carrots, but only one way - raw! This is how he is with everything. I figured if we  bake/cook together he will see what ingredients go in something and learn to appreciate the variety of flavors and uses for each ingredient. We will see! Since we had an abundance of carrots, we decided to make carrot muffins. Well, originally I said "carrot bread" and Ant man retorted with "carrot cake" and we settled on "carrot muffins!" Love the conversations with my son! Also, I should note that this recipe is all my own, as are all of the recipes that I post here. They are not tweaked recipes or recipes I just love as is... they are my creation! This recipe will make 18 muffins. I like to use a muffin pan with liners instead of greasing the pan. Makes it easier to transport and a much easier clean up.

Carrot Muffins
Dry Ingredients
2 cups Flour
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Course Sea Salt (yes, I love cooking/baking with this)
1 1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
3/4 tsp Ground Ginger
1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg

Wet Ingredients
2 cups Shredded Carrots
1/2 cup Vegetable Oil
3/4 cup Orange Juice, no pulp
3 Large Eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

 

Preheat oven to 350* F.  In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together wet ingredients, aside from carrots (those are added at the end). Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix with a spatula until all ingredients are combined. Then, add carrots a 1/2 cup at a time and mix until incorporated. Repeat until all carrots have been incorporated. Fill muffin liners 3/4s full. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. Once completely cooled to room temperature, ice with cream cheese icing recipe.