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 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!
Love this receipe, very easy to change the ingredienta. I used apple sauce and honey instead of oil and omitted the orange juice as I didn't have it on hand. I was able to make 12 standard size muffins and 3 smaller ones. Next time I'm going to try adding in pineapple. Yummy!
I made this recipe for a bake sale using the orange juice and adding a half cup of crushed pineapple . I brought a dozen and they sold out in an hour. One woman came back and wanted more! So moist and tasty - not supper sweet. This will definitely be my bake sale go to. A friend said she used to do a Morning Glory cake -any ideas on a recipe?Elaine, you could try baking this batter in a 9" round cake pan that's at least 2" deep to make a Morning Glory Cake. Bake at 375°F for about 35 to 40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. You could "borrow" the cream cheese frosting from the King Arthur's Carrot Cake recipe to top off the layer of cake with a sweet garnish! Kye@KAF
Are the grated apples supposed to be drained?You don't need to drain the apples in this recipe before adding them to the batter. Some of the juices may naturally come out of the apples during grating, but you don't need to add that liquid back into the batter. Simply grate the apples and fold them into the batter as described here. The juices will add flavor and moistness to the muffins. Happy baking! Kye@KAF
How the glory did my muffins come out so dry!? I think I am cursed whenever I do recipes that are not metric...been baking Danish family recipes for years. Only thing I added extra was 1/8c ground flax seed...and used a new muffin pan. I am going to blame the Nordic gods for tampering with my oven temperature. But, I will still give this a solid 4 out of 5 stars since all the reviews are near fives. I will not give up!Oh dear! Let's see what we can do to combat the work of the Nordic gods, Kel. First, we want you to know that all of our recipes can be viewed and printed in volume, ounces, or grams. You'll find the option right under the "Ingredients" header. Second, flax seed would absorb some liquid, so it wouldn't hurt to add an extra tablespoon of liquid to compensate for that. Lastly, if your new muffin pan has a dark interior, it might help to lower the oven temperature by 25°F and extend the baking time by an extra two to three minutes. It will allow them to bake more evenly, rather than the edges baking quickly and drying out before the center has a chance to bake through. We hope the next batch is a hit! Annabelle@KAF
I swaped out the raisins for chocolate chips- what isn't better with chocolate? I also added 1/8 cup of chia seeds, 1/8 c of hemp and 1/8c of flax seeds. They were all well disguised in these delicious muffins.
These are delicious.
Love this recipe. I change it each time, add a banana, cut back the sugar, added zucchini to every batch, the garden is full of them. It is so quick, easy and delicious. What do I do to bake this has a loaf?We're glad you love this recipe, Stella. We haven't tried making it as a loaf, but we think it could work well if you're up for checking on the loaf periodically during baking. Choose a 9" by 5" pan since this loaf has lots of mix-ins and you don't want it to overflow in the oven. Bake at 350°F for about 50-60 minutes, checking for doneness with a toothpick. When the toothpick comes out mostly clean, it's done! Extend the baking time as necessary until it tests done. Happy baking! Kye@KAF
