Gluten-Free Carrot Cake Muffins with Cream Cheese Filling

These gluten-free carrot cake muffins are soft, fluffy, and lightly sweet, with warm cinnamon spice, an optional cream cheese filling tucked into the center, and a turbinado sugar top that bakes up with a lightly crisp, bakery-style finish. My kids have been asking for these every single morning, and I love that there are two full cups of freshly grated carrots packed into every batch, and they have absolutely no idea!

Prep Time10

Cook Time28

Total Time38

Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Snacks

Cuisine: American

Keyword: gluten-free carrot cake muffins

Servings: muffins

Author: Jean Choi

Ingredients

1¾ cup gluten free all-purpose flour or regular AP flour
1 cup brown sugar packed
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup avocado oil or any neutral flavored oil
1/3 cup milk of your choice (I used almond milk)
2 whole eggs can use flax eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups carrots finely grated
1 tsp turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Cream Cheese Filling

4 oz cream cheese 1/2 cup
2 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line a 12-cup muffin tin with parchment muffin liners. Add all ingredients for the cream cheese filling in a bowl, and use a hand mixer to mix until smooth and creamy. Place in the fridge while you make the muffin batter.
4 oz cream cheese, 2 tbsp granulated sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract
In a large mixing bowl, stir together flour, brown sugar, baking soda, sea salt, and cinnamon until combined.
1¾ cup gluten free all-purpose flour, 1 cup brown sugar, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp sea salt, 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
Add in avocado oil, milk, eggs, and vanilla extract. Stir until almost combined.
1/2 cup avocado oil, 1/3 cup milk, 2 whole eggs, 1 tsp vanilla extract
Fold in grated carrots. Do not overmix.
2 cups carrots
Add 2 tablespoons of the batter to each muffin cup (I used a cookie scoop), then add a spoonful of the cream cheese filling to the center of each muffin batter, flattening the top slightly with the back of a spoon.
Top each muffin cup with another 2 tablespoons of the batter until filled almost to the top and the filling is covered. Sprinkle the top with some turbinado sugar.
1 tsp turbinado sugar
Bake for 24-28 min until a toothpick inserted into the batter part of the muffins comes out mostly clean. Let cool, and enjoy!

Notes

Dairy-free: Use any plant-based milk in the batter and swap the cream cheese for a dairy-free version, or skip the filling entirely.
Egg-free: Flax eggs work in place of regular eggs. The texture will be slightly denser, but the muffins still bake up well.
Not gluten-free: Swap the GF flour one-for-one with regular all-purpose flour. No other changes needed.
No turbinado sugar: You can use a light sprinkle of regular granulated sugar on top, but the crunch won't be quite the same. Coarse raw sugar or demerara sugar are good substitutes if you have them.
Grate the carrots coarsely, not finely. Finely grated carrots release a lot of moisture into the batter as the muffins bake, which can make them dense and heavy. Coarsely grated carrots give you better moisture distribution and a much better final texture. A box grater on the large holes works perfectly, or a food processor with a grating blade if you want to go faster.
Don't overmix. Once the wet ingredients go in, stir just until there's no visible dry flour. A few lumps in the batter are completely fine. Overmixing is one of the most common reasons GF muffins come out dense.
The thick batter is correct. Before the carrots go in, the batter will look noticeably thick. After you fold in the carrots, it'll thicken just a bit more. Don't add extra liquid. That thick consistency is part of what gives these a nice dome on top instead of baking flat.
The turbinado sugar crunch holds. Turbinado doesn't fully melt into the batter during baking, so you still get a light, crispy top when the muffins come out of the oven, and it stays that way even after a day in the fridge.
Check at 24 minutes. Ovens vary, and overbaking is one of the fastest ways to dry out a GF muffin. The tops should look set and slightly golden at the edges. When in doubt, pull them a minute early rather than a minute late.

Nutrition