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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 love these muffins. I have made them as is and they're delicious, but I have also halved the sugar and used a mushed ripe banana in its place and they're still very sweet and moist. I tend to use coconut oil to accent the shredded coconut, craisins instead of raisins, pecans in place of the seeds. and add blueberries. They're so good and my kids love them. I appreciate the fact that you get fruit and a vegetable in one go. Tempted to try adding some zucchini too just to increase nutrients a bit.
I tried this recipe two months ago, and I've already made it twice more since then! My friends and I love these muffins. Each time, I have used 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour, and sliced almonds instead of walnuts. The first time I tried golden raisins, but I found I prefer KAF apple cinnamon jammy bits. One time I substituted the 3 eggs for 3/4 cup mashed banana to make the recipe vegan. This most recent time, I halved the amount of cinnamon and added some cloves and allspice - yum!!! I can't recommend these muffins enough.
Made them, liked them. For fiber, I used 1/2 cup flax meal as did not have bran. The ginger is nice, might add a little more next time. Freezing actually enhanced flavour. Did 12 minis, 12 regular from the batch recipe. If people think too dry, watch the bake, soak the raisins instruction should not be omitted. Also, what a fabulous website. I cannot get your flour here in Canada, used Rogers, very nice. Thank you!
This is a wonderful and easy recipe for muffins that taste great! I've made this several times since I found it about two months ago. I've never used the orange juice, just a little rice milk instead. I also put in 1/4 of plain Greek yogurt. . .yummy!
I modified the recipe somewhat: 1. I made a large quick bread instead of muffins. 2. I replaced the apple with 1/2 cup natural applesauce and the orange juice with 1/2 tsp orange extract. 3. I reduced the oil from 2/3 cup to 1/2 cup (I used sunflower oil). 4. I replaced the raisins with apricot jammy bits. 5. I upped the cooking time to 60 minutes (probably would guess 50-70 minutes depending upon your oven). The result was fabulous! The quick bread (12 slices) were gobbled up at church, and my husband begged me to make another since he was unable to grab one of the slices at church!
I made half with nuts and half without. I prefer the nut version. I used wheat germ, but left out the coconut as no one likes it at our house. I baked them for 350F for 18 min. It made 23 muffins with the yellow scoop.
Easy and forgiving of experimentation! Doubled the batch, left out the sugar and orange juice, and did half apple sauce with half melted coconut oil because I didn't have any other oil. They came out less sweet and a little crumbly, but still so good and filling! Next time I'll add more apple sauce and maybe use a different oil just to keep experimenting, but this was great!
Made a few changes....made a double batch, omitted the nuts (didn't have any) and raisins (don't like them) and added a can of crushed pineapple with the juice. I did use the wheat germ. The double batch made 34 muffins. Cooked for 25 minutes. These are delicious.
I'm on a high fiber diet, and these muffins sure fill the requirement. I used KAF Jammy Bits instead of raisins. I also subbed pine nuts which were in the house instead of walnuts which were not in the house. It strikes me that there are limitless substitutions possible as long as the dry and wet ingredients are consistent. I will definitely make this again as they taste fantastic.
So so so good! I used King Arthur whole grain whole wheat flour and doubled the amount of carrots and apples. Instead of wheat germ, I used raw, unsalted sunflower seeds from Trader Joe's and more to sprinkle on top. It's my husband's new favorite muffin. My three year old granddaughter devoured it. The muffins freeze very well.
