The Truth and Other Hidden Things Carrot Ginger Muffins

  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 cup milk
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 2 cups peeled and shredded carrots (about 3-4 carrots)

“I whipped up two batches of carrot ginger muffins and a pear crumble, congratulating myself on resisting licking a single bowl. “

–The Truth and Other Hidden Things by Lea Geller

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Line muffin tin with paper liners and lightly spray each liner with non-stick cooking spray.
3. Toast pecans on baking sheet in the oven for about 5 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk, brown sugar, vegetable oil, grated ginger, vinegar, and vanilla extract.
5. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ground ginger, baking soda, and salt.
6. Add dry ingredients to milk mixture and stir until just combined.
7. Gently fold in carrots and pecans.
8. Divide batter evenly into muffin tin. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
9. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for ten minutes, and then remove the muffins from the pan and cool completely.

the Book Inspiration

On the same day Bells Walker learns that her IUD has failed, her husband, Harry, is denied tenure at his Manhattan university. So Bells, Harry, their two adolescent children, and her baby bump move to New York’s Hudson Valley, where Harry has landed a job at Dutchess College in the town of Pigkill.

 

When the farm-to-table utopia Bells envisioned is anything but, she turns to the blogosphere. Under the pen name the County Dutchess, she anonymously dishes about life in Pigkill, detailing the activities of hypercompetitive parents and kombucha-drinking hipsters. Suddenly, Bells has a place to say all the things she’s been secretly thinking about being a wife and mother. As Bells turns the focus of her blog on her new neighbors, her readership continues to grow, but her scandalous posts hit closer to home: she puts Harry’s new job in jeopardy, derails her children’s lives, and risks the one real friendship she’s built.

 

When Bells uncovers scandals right under her nose, the Dutchess goes viral, and soon everyone is asking, Who is the County Dutchess? Now Bells has to ask herself if it’s worth losing the people closest to her to finally feel noticed by everyone else.