Alton Brown’s recipe for Parsnip Muffins

In the battle to get a 5-year-old boy to embrace vegetables, the Food Network’s Alton Brown offered up these parsnip muffins, which were the easy winner in the taste test. They could be made healthier by substituting white whole-wheat flour for the all-purpose and by cutting back the sugar a bit.

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PARSNIP MUFFINS

Start to finish: 40 minutes (20 active)

Makes 12 muffins

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Cooking spray

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

3 eggs

3/4 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

2 cups (10 ounces) packed grated parsnips

Place the almonds in a single layer in a pie pan and set in oven. Heat the oven to 375 F. Bake the nuts until lightly toasted, approximately 20 minutes while the oven heats.

Meanwhile, spray a standard 12-cup muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, vegetable oil and sugar. Add the flour mixture and parsnips, and fold with a spatula until all of the flour is moistened. There will be some lumps.

Divide the mixture evenly among the muffin cups (1/3 cup per muffin). Sprinkle the top of each muffin with the toasted almonds. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating halfway through baking. The muffins should reach an internal temperature of 210 F and be golden brown.

If needed, use a small knife or offset spatula to loosen the muffins and immediately remove them from the tin to a cooling rack. Cool for 15 minutes. Serve warm. Store completely cooled muffins in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

(Recipe from Alton Brown)