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
I'm not sure where I went wrong, but these smelled and tasted strongly of baking soda. The carrot shreds also turned blue-black in some places inside of the muffin, as if some sort of oxidation had taken place during baking. My son wouldn't touch them. Wish I could post a picture so the KAF team could help me figure out what happened.We'd love to see a picture, Uki! Head over to the "contact" page of our website, email it, and then our Baker's Hotline will be able to assist you further. It sounds like the baking soda and acids in your batter did some funky things and that the baking soda may be passed its prime. We look forward to gettin the picture! Annabelle@KAF
Love this recipe! I made it with KAF White Whole Wheat flour and cut the sugar by 25%. It was still really tender and the perfect amount of sweetness for breakfast. I get 12 muffins out of this recipe; the cups are filled to the top, but that isn't a problem, and I like this size for breakfast. My husband, who was skeptical about whole wheat muffins, happily eats one of these every morning.
These muffins are definitely flexible, which I appreciate. I swapped half the oil for unsweetened applesauce and cut the sugar in half. I threw in whatever I had: a chopped not-quite-ripe pear, carrots, raisins, walnuts, and raisins, and they turned out good, though they stuck to the muffin liners a lot - I was glad I used liners! It looks like other reviewers have thrown a lot of other fillings in too with success. I sprinkled a little raw sugar on top before baking, which added a little extra sweetness and crunch on day 1, but by day 2 this had softened into a sticky coating.
Absolutely delicious! I used King Arthur 100% Whole Wheat Flour (not the White Wheat). I think I'll make these for testing week at school, including a batch with the gluten free flour. I even used the site's Chat feature to ask a question. Thanks!
I made this but used leftover Charoseth from Passover Seder-chopped apples, walnuts, oranges, moistened with a bit of wine and spiced with cinnamon. I added diced apricots and some raisins, because I had them handy. Terrific.
We made these muffins last night and loved them. Our muffins turned out really dark compared to the picture, the tip about lowering the temperature 25 degrees would probably have fixed the problem as I used a dark pan. I will make a mental note of reading the reviews in the future. I love King Arthur Flour recipes and products. You are my go-to website for all things baked. I would like to use less sugar. Could I half the sugar in this recipe to 1/2 cup? How would it affect the recipe? Thanks for the advice.We're glad this recipe was a hit, Carrie! We'd recommend cutting the sugar down by 25% rather than 50% to ensure the texture and tenderness aren't negatively affected. Happy baking! Annabelle@KAF
Batter Looked good but temperature burned muffin bottoms even after 20 minsWe're so sorry to hear they overbaked! If you don't already have one, we suggest grabbing an inexpensive oven thermometer, just to ensure your oven temperature is running true. If you use a muffin pan that is dark in color or is made of glass or ceramic, we'd recommend lowering the oven temperature by 25°F. We hope this helps! Annabelle@KAF
Delicious! The batter seems to be too dry when it's mixed, but the apples and carrots give the muffins just the right amount of moisture. My kids, sadly, don't like coconut or raisins, so I used oatmeal and dried cranberries instead. I've also used yogurt in place of the orange juice and added just a smidgen of water. Always comes out wonderfully! I also use silicone muffin liners. They're a little smaller than a regular muffin cup so this recipe makes 18 scrumptious muffins! They freeze great too!
Excellent! I split flour; gluten free and white flour. These are delicious! I will be making them again and again!
Love this recipe. Now that I'm wheat free, I'm using Measure for Measure. It is amazing. I also make these as muffin tops, since the tops are the best part of any muffins.
