I can help.....

Your Carrot Muffin Recipes sounds delicious !!

1. Whenever you have honey in a recipe, I find that you will get a crustier
muffin on the outside, and a moist one on the inside.

It sounds like your oven is also too hot and cooking the outside of your muffin
too quickly. I'd reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees and see if that
helps. Get an oven thermometer because ovens are always off--ALWAYS !!!

Also, make sure the muffin pan is placed in the center of the middle shelf in
the oven, so it is not too close to the source of heat.

Spray the inside of your oven with a fine water mist right before placing the
pan in and once during baking--or do a shallow pan filled with water placed on
the bottom of your oven.

Oil helps solve the crusty muffin problem--I always spray the entire insides of
the muffin cups heavily with canola oil whenever I have honey in a recipe.

2. Buttermilk is an acidic ingredient which works in combination with baking
soda to give you a tender crumb. Milk is not acidic and does not do the same
thing. You have to change the leavening systems and sometimes the ingredients
all around whenever you switch from buttermilk to milk, or from any ingredient
that is acidic to a nonacidic one.

In other words, don't change from buttermilk to milk or vice versa. But, you
can change from buttermilk to yogurt, which is an acidic ingredient.

I hope this helps....Come and visit me In the Kitchen with Sarah, here at
tkl...