Fresh Ginger and Carrot Muffins

I know I should be making some darling gingerbread people or star and Christmas tree-shaped gingerbread biscuits this time of year. The truth is making sweet biscuits aka cookies from scratch has never been my strong point.  They always seem to lack bite and crunch.  It is something I hope to remedy next year when I move closer to family with children and will have plenty of time to experiment on willing human guinea pigs. 

Anyway, all this is way of saying that I ended up making some Carrot Muffins with a fresh grating of ginger.  You may think the fresh ginger would be overpowering, but actually its not.  It just gives a fresh clean taste. I should also point out that these are not very sweet.  These have just enough sweetness for what I think is a good breakfast cake!

The only thing about them that made me raise my eyebrows, was its rather odd shape.  Maybe I was a bit heavy-handed with the sifting of the flour, but upon baking they bloomed pointy upwards - looking more like acorns than chubby muffins.   Still they were nice to eat with a mug of coffee.   

Fresh Ginger and Carrot Muffins
Ingredients
Makes 9
260g plain flour
100g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon cinnamon
2   medium carrots, grated
200ml milk
2 eggs
60ml vegetable or olive oil
2 - 2½ tablespoons ginger, freshly grated
Method
Preheat oven to gas mark 6.
Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl, then stir in the carrots and the wet ingredients.   Stir gently until combined.  Spoon into muffin cases and bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Adapted from The Garden of Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer.