Carrot Tahini Muffins
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Happy nurses appreciation week to all my fellow nurses out there! Since starting nursing I am under the belief that someone will never truly understand what a nurse does unless they too are a nurse. There is this strange bond between us nurses. We’ve put our hands in unmentionable places, we’ve been yelled at by patients and family members, we’ve gone without food or bathroom breaks for extended periods of times – possibly even the entirety of our shift, we ask the difficult and “awkward” questions, we’ve endured entire shifts without having the time to sit down for more than a few minutes, we’ve been emotionally touched by patients and their life stories, we’ve watched patients make seemingly impossible strides, and we continuously work selflessly for the sake of people who are essentially strangers to us.
Nursing truly is caring for someone and treating them with dignity and respect at one of the lowest and most difficult times in their lives. I’ll never forget my patient who passed and the wedding ring that was left on his finger because his wife did not want to remove it after the 60+ years of it being there. Or my patient whom I cared for when he was inches from needing to be transferred to the ICU and who I had the pleasure to discharge home a week later when he was healthy. Or even the astounding transformation I was able to witness during nursing school of a patient with severe jaundice and ascites due to liver failure, who weeks later was able to visit the unit after a liver transplant, completely healed. No one can truly teach you how to give a bed bath with dignity, or reassure patients who are embarrassed about their bodily function, or how to deal with difficult patients and family members, or how to multitask like there is no tomorrow. It just comes with the territory on continually learning to be a better nurse.
I did not grow up thinking that I wanted to be a nurse, nor did I originally go to college for nursing, but I am immensely thankful that it is where I ended up. So here’s to all my fellow nurses who make me proud to be apart of this noble and age old profession.
Every since seeing Molly Yeh use tahini numerous times in her recipes, I have been so curious about tahini in baked goodies. Sure, I’ve used tahini when making homemade hummus – but come on, tahini puppy chow? Coconut tahini monster cookies? Tahini cake? Once Trader Joes started selling tahini (in super cute packaging, might I add), I knew I had to finally create a recipe that featured it. For those of you who might not be familiar with tahini, it is essentially a smooth sesame seed butter. It is typically used in savory dishes, and is a popular food item in plant-based diets. It resembles natural peanut butter in that the natural oils in tahini separate to the top.
To be honest, this recipe I am about to share originally started as a carrot basil flavor combination, but when that didn't quite work out to my liking, I switched the basil out for tahini. And wow, are these muffins mouth-watering delicious! The carrot muffin base is moist and deliciously flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and coconut. While the tahini adds a rich and nutty flavor that makes the overall muffin flavor pop! This is a quick and easy to make recipe!
CARROT TAHINI MUFFINS
Makes 12 muffins
Prep time: 10 minutes | Bake time: 20 minutes
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Spray a muffin tin with non-stick spray, and set aside.
2. Whisk together in a medium sized bowl, then set aside:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
3. Mix together until well combined in a large sized bowl:
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup milk
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
4. Fold into the wet ingredients:
2 cups carrots, grated
5. Gently stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in batches, until lumpy. Be careful not to overmix the batter, as this will create a tough and chewy muffin.
6. Bake for 20 minutes until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Remove muffins from pan and cool on a cooling rack.
