Morning Glory Muffins

Morning glory muffins are the healthy, tasty answer to sugar-loaded, too-sweet muffins. This recipe calls for a blend of fruits, carrots and nuts, resulting in a filling muffin that’s loaded with flavor and moisture. Keep these on hand to grab and go when you need a quick and easy breakfast; they store exceptionally well. Or serve them warm the first day topped with apple butter or creamy homemade butter.

Ingredients for Morning Glory Muffins

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Dry ingredients: You’ll be using all-purpose flour, sugar, ground cinnamon, baking soda and salt for the dry ingredients.
Wet ingredients: The wet ingredients include eggs, applesauce, vegetable oil and vanilla extract.
Carrots: The addition of carrots adds savory flavor as well as moisture.
Apple: Choose a tart apple, which you’ll be peeling and grating prior to adding.
Crushed pineapple: Canned crushed pineapple adds flavor, moisture and a touch of sweetness.
Coconut: Opt for sweetened and shredded coconut for best results.
Raisins: You can use either traditional or golden raisins.
Walnuts: Chopped walnuts complement the other ingredients well, but you can also use pecans or even hazelnuts.

Directions

Step 1: Make the muffin batter

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Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, ground cinnamon, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, combine the eggs, applesauce, oil and vanilla. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients, and then stir in the carrots, apple, pineapple, coconut, raisins and nuts, and mix until just blended.

Step 2: Fill and bake

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Fill well-greased or paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. Bake for 20 to 24 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for five minutes before removing from pans to cool on wire racks.

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Recipe Variations

• Make a streusel topping: Mix together rolled oats, flour, cinnamon, brown sugar and butter to make a crunchy, crispy streusel for topping the muffins just before they go in the oven.
• Add protein: If you’d like a muffin with more protein, you can add a favorite protein powder to these muffins. As a general rule, you’ll need 1/4 to 1/2 cups of wet ingredients for every 1 cup of dry. Don’t use protein powder in place of flour, but rather as an addition. Consider adding more applesauce when adding in protein powder.
• Change up the fruit: Substitute dried dates, prunes or cranberries for the raisins, or add in zucchini along with the carrots.

How to Store Morning Glory Muffins

You can store leftover muffins on the counter or in the fridge. In airtight containers, muffins will last three days on the counter and up to a week in the fridge.

Can you freeze morning glory muffins?

Yes. Store any leftover morning glory muffins in the freezer for up to three months. Just wrap individual muffins in wax paper to avoid having them stick together, and then store them inside an airtight, freezer-safe bag or container.

Morning Glory Muffin Tips

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How do I keep muffins from drying out?

The key to keeping a moist muffin is to not overbake. Additionally, you can chill your batter for up to six hours. This results in a muffin that’s more moist, as the starch present in the flour will absorb more moisture during the chilling time.

How do I reheat morning glory muffins?

We recommend reheating muffins by popping them individually into the microwave. Microwave on high for up to 15 seconds, or until they reach desired warmth.

How can I make morning glory muffins even healthier?

This morning glory muffin recipe is pretty hearty and healthy as is, but if you’d like to up it, you can always change up ingredients. For example, use flax eggs instead of the eggs called for here for an added boost in omega-3s. You can also make a streusel topping with oats, hemp, flaxseed, sesame seeds and nuts to give yourself a boost in protein, fat and calories.