Give your carrot muffins a makeover with these wonderfully spiced and tender Parsnip Spice Muffins. Just like carrots, parsnips cook down to provide moisture, flavour and sweetness to baked goods. Already having a sweet note, parsnips readily take on an array of spices such as cloves, ginger and cinnamon. So get ready to fill your kitchen with the scent of baked goods and glorious spices with these gorgeous muffins.
Inspired by Bon Appetit’s Parsnip Spice Cake, I chose to lighten up the batter with applesauce and use less oil, sugar and eggs to create a relatively healthy muffin. Tender and moist with a spicy aroma and flavour. They’re particularly good with a drizzle of sweetened cream cheese for a little sweet treat, but eaten plain with a cup of tea is also a pleasure.
Recipe inspired by Bon Appetit’s Parsnip Spice Cake with Ginger Cream Cheese Frosting
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp ground ginger
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 3/4 tsp allspice
- 3/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp ground clove
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups grated parsnips
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
- 1/3 cup cream cheese at room temperature
- 1/3 cup icing sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350℉ and line 12 muffin tins with parchment or muffin liners. In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, spices and salt. Set aside.
- In a large bowl whisk together oil and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, incorporating after each. Whisk in applesauce, milk and vanilla to combine. Whisk in flour mixture and parsnips until just combined. Stir in pecans.
- Divide batter equally between prepared muffin tins using a generous 1/4 cup of batter each. Bake in preheated oven for 25-28 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Remove to a cooling rack and allow to cool to room temperature.
- In a small bowl stir together cream cheese, icing sugar, milk and vanilla to form a smooth texture. Drizzle or spread onto cooled muffins.