Oatmeal Carrot Muffins

Oatmeal Carrot Muffins
From Anne Lindsay's Smart Cooking

Hands-on time: 5-10 minutes
Baking time: 20 minutes (or until the toothpick comes out clean)

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:
1¼ cups buttermilk (or, if you don’t have any…1 cup milk & juice of ½ lemon…let sit for 5 minutes until it thickens a bit)
1½ cups old fashioned rolled or quick cooking oats
1 cup grated carrots
¼ cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup canola oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1½ tsp grated orange rind
1 ½ cups all purpose flour (I actually used ¾ cup whole wheat flour and ¾ cup almond meal instead)
¾ cup raisins
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt

Directions:
1. Pre heat the oven to 400°F/200°C and coat a 12 cup muffin tin with cooking spray or line with individual muffin papers.

2. In a medium bowl pour buttermilk over oats and stir to mix. Let stand for 5 minutes.

3. In a separate large bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour the buttermilk mixture over top and gently mix just to moisten. Don’t over mix.

4. Spoon into prepared muffin tins. I use an ice cream scoop for consistency and neatness factor. Bake for 20 minutes. Test for doneness by sticking a wooden toothpick in the center. If it comes out dry, the muffins are done.