These healthier, lightly sweet carrot-zucchini muffins are a delicious snack for toddlers and adults. They are sweetened with honey and secretly packed with nutritious veggies so even the pickiest of eaters will enjoy them!

Did your Labor Day weekend fly by like ours did?

I feel like I was just clocking out at work Friday, looking forward to the hours and hours and hours of sleep I was going to get for 3 whole days

Yeah, so the sleep didn’t really happen.

I don’t know what is going on with Bazooka the last week, but he’s been waking up anywhere between 11:30 PM and 3:00 AM, almost always ending up in our bed.

It wouldn’t be so bad if he would stay still!

The kid is head-butting one of us while kicking the other, which means that we’re some cranky individuals when we wake up in the mornings!

Apart from an epic sleep failure, our Labor Day-cation wasn’t all that exciting. We grocery-shopped, we shampooed the carpets, we had dinner with my parents on Sunday, and we barbecued Monday afternoon after the rain cleared up.

The biggest thing I did, I suppose, was bake!

While Mark took Bazooka with him to run some errands, I baked some DELICIOUS carrot, zucchini, and cranberry muffins!

I’ve mentioned before how Bazooka is THE WORST eater on the planet, and while he still eats the pureed fruit/vegetable pouches, he pretty much avoids vegetables in any other form or fashion.

Hence why I snuck almost 2 cups of veggies into these bad boys!

While they may be nutritious, they do not taste like a health food.

They are sweet, but not too sweet, thanks to honey and dried cranberries, and they are incredibly moist and tender due to a lightly-mixed batter.

The best part? Bazooka like them. When I offered him one, he grabbed my hand and shoved the muffin into his mouth. He even said “mmm….good, mama.” That was before he spat out the cranberry.

Ok, so next time I’ll leave out the cranberries, but I’m still calling this a win!

Healthy Carrot-Zucchini Muffins

yields 2-dozen mini muffins

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (heaping)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 3 Tbsp butter, melted & cooled
• 1/2 cup honey (scant)
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup finely grated zucchini (drained of most liquid)
• 1/2 cup finely grated carrots
• 1/2 cup (scant) dried cranberries

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350º F. Prepare 2 mini muffin tins with liners and/or coconut oil or cooking spray.
• In a small mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients: flour, chia seeds, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; whisk together until well-combined. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, honey, egg, applesauce, and vanilla extract.
• Pour in the dry mixture, stirring gently until barely combined.
• Fold in the zucchini, carrots, and cranberries until evenly distributed.
• Spoon the batter into your muffin tin (about 3/4 full).
• Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.

slightly adapted from Cupcakes & Kale Chips

Healthy carrot-zucchini muffins that even the pickiest young eater will love! Share on X

As I mentioned above, next time I’ll probably leave out the cranberries since Bazooka is so weird about textures. I think adding walnuts or pecans would be fantastic to bulk up the nutrition and staying power.

I found these to be perfectly sweet, but I think you could easily get away with cutting back the honey to 1/3 or maybe even 1/2 cup and adding a little extra applesauce.

So tell me…

• What’s your favorite kind of muffin?
• If you’re a mom, what’s your favorite way to sneak in veggies so your little ones will eat them?