Morning Glory Muffins
This recipe, a throwback to the "back to the land" '60s, brings together all kinds of fruits and vegetables in an earthy whole-grain muffin that, despite the description, manages to taste very good indeed. Moist and just sweet enough, Morning Glory are a great "eat in the car" treat. They need the enhancement of neither butter nor jam (though either — or cream cheese — wouldn't be out of place).
Baking gluten-free? For great results, substitute King Arthur Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour for the all-purpose flour in this recipe; no other changes needed.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup raisins or Jammy Bits, your favorite flavor*
- 2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, Premium Whole Wheat Flour, or Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups peeled and grated carrots
- 1 large tart apple, peeled, cored, and grated (or leave the peel on; your choice)
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds or wheat germ, optional
- 3 large eggs
- 2/3 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- *See "tips," below.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or line it with papers and spray the insides of the papers.
- In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water, and set them aside to soak while you assemble the rest of the recipe.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt.
- Stir in the carrots, apple, coconut, nuts, and sunflower seeds or wheat germ.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and orange juice.
- Add to the flour mixture, and stir until evenly moistened.
- Drain the raisins and stir them in.
- Divide the batter among the wells of the prepared pan (they'll be full almost to the top; that's OK).
- Bake the muffins for 25 to 28 minutes, until they're nicely domed and a cake tester inserted in the center of one of the inner muffins comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes in their pan on a rack, then turn out of pans to finish cooling. Wrap any leftovers airtight, and store at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.
- Yield: 12 muffins.
Nutrition Information
- Serving Size 1 muffin
- Servings Per Batch 12
Amount Per Serving:
- Calories 342
- Calories from Fat
- Total Fat 18g
- Saturated Fat
- Trans Fat
- Cholesterol 53mg
- Sodium 347mg
- Total Carbohydrate 26g
- Dietary Fiber 4g
- Sugars 19g
- Protein 6g
* The nutrition information provided for this recipe is determined by the ESHA Genesis R&D software program. Substituting any ingredients may change the posted nutrition information.
Tips from our bakers
- Our Gluten-Free Measure for Measure Flour makes it easy to make many of your favorite traditional recipes (like this one) gluten-free. Simply substitute Measure for Measure flour 1:1 for the flour called for in your recipe; no additional ingredients or other changes needed.
- Not fond of raisins? Substitute Substitute Jammy Bits, sweet, soft little morsels of fruit purée.
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Reviews
Delicious and flexible recipe for a dense but moist muffin. I omitted the coconut and sunflower seeds (didn't have) and substituted ground flaxseed for the wheat germ. I also didn't have orange juice so I substituted it for an equal amount of milk with a teaspoon of lemon juice. My only complaint was that the batter was rather dry so I splashed in a tiny bit more milk until the batter seemed scoopable. This might be because my apple was pretty big (~200g, about 3.5 inches across) and I used 220 grams of carrots in addition to reducing the raisins and sugar by 25%. I was pretty pleased with the sweetness level of the muffin although next time I would use the suggested amount of raisins. I got 15 muffins using a cupcake pan with each cup filled to the brim. Not sure if this is common but since I left my apple unpeeled, I noticed some dark green flecks in the muffins from the apple skin. A bit startling but delicious nonetheless!
Wonderful recipe! Used cup 4 cup gluten free flour, 1/3 cup olive oil and 1/3 cup apple sauce, no wheat germ or sunflower seeds but followed the rest of the recipe. Muffins were moist and tasty! Oh forgot I used only 3/4 cups sugar but sprinkled some extra on top of each muffin before baking. This a keeper!
I followed the recipe exactly, but I used a muffin tin that has rectangular shapes instead of round. They came out very very dark inside and tasted quite dry. The outsides were overdone after the suggested 25 to 28 min. I don't know if they were dry because I used wheat germ instead of sunflower seeds, but the recipe gives this option. Or if it's because I used 2 cups of whole wheat flour. Also the contrast of acidity is missing from the muffins. Not happy at all.Sorry to hear this recipe didn't leave you feeling delighted, Susan. It sounds like you made some changes to the batter and also used a unique baking pan. (The darker the pan, the darker the muffins.) If the wells of the pan were slightly smaller than a standard muffin pan, we would have recommended reducing the baking time slightly. We also wonder how your flour was measured for the batter. Scooping directly from the bag of flour can compact it in the cup and leave you with dry, dense/heavy muffins.
Instead, we recommend checking out the "Measuring Standards," link next to the ingredients header above. You'll see that either measuring your flour by weight using a scale, or fluffing and sprinkling the flour into your measuring cup are the best ways to ensure your recipe turns out perfectly. Kye@KAF
These are so good. The day I baked them, the taste was fine but the next day -- yum!!! I subbed pumpkin seeds for the walnuts but otherwise made as written. I wasn't sure it would be worth the effort to grate the apple and carrots but it absolutely is. Thanks for a winner.
Great recipe came out absolutely delicious, our use coconut oil instead of canola and I use pecans instead of walnuts! Wonderful!
I just made these with whole wheat pastry flour and they came out moist, tender and delicious. I'd try them again substituting applesauce for half the oil, but the original recipe has so many healthy ingredients already that I hardly feel the need to make them even healthier. I'm definitely making this recipe again.
Really easy delicious recipe. Not too sweet, very moist. I substituted flax seed meal for the wheat germ and they came out great!
Delicious and easy! I left out the nuts and sprinkled raw sugar on top before baking and they are so tasty and hearty. Finally, a flavorful morning glory muffin!
A very adaptable recipe. I threw in some fresh pinapple since I had some on hand. I forgot the apples and rasins and it still turned out fine. I also subbed applesauce for half the oil. They were a tad dry but just put some butter on when I ate them and they were fine. Everything seems better with butter! I want to make again and try and remember all the ingredients this time.
I made these with applesauce instead of oil and added some zucchini! They were so good and moist! New favorite muffin!
