Muffin Top: Stuffed Carrot Cake Muffins

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups Old Fashion oatmeal, chopped in a food processor
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 cups match stick carrots
1/2 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, with juice reserved for filling
2 large eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 cup brown sugar (Feel free to adjust the sugar to your taste!)
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Reserved pineapple juice
1 teaspoons vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to  375 degrees F.  Lightly grease muffin pans with butter flavored cooking spray, or use paper liners.

In a small bowl, combine the coconut milk with the oats; let soak for 30 minutes.

In a food processor pulse the carrot and coconut until finely chopped. Skip this step if you don't mind big hunks of carrot and coconut in your muffin.

In a large bowl sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.  Whisk in the brown sugar.  Add the carrots and coconut to the flour mixture and toss well. 

In a bowl whisk together milk-oat mixture, eggs, oil, pineapple (juice reserved), and vanilla. Make a well in dry ingredients, and add wet ingredients.  Mix until batter is just moistened. Do not over mix or else you'll have tough muffins.

Optional Filling: In a bowl, cream together the sugar and cream cheese. Add the pineapple juice and vanilla until completely combined.  Adjust sugar to desired sweetness.

Fill each muffin cup about 1/2 full with the muffin batter.  Spoon approximately 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture into the muffin cups. Top with remaining batter, so that each muffin cup is about 3/4 full.

Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center (away from the filling) of a muffin comes out clean.

Makes 8 large muffins