Moist and hearty morning glory muffins are sure to become one of your favorite muffins – and baked goods! Loaded with shredded carrots, apples, raisins, nuts, and coconut, they’re bursting with flavor and texture. You can easily sub the raisins for other dried fruits like dried cranberries or cherries. Jump to the recipe and bake them now!
My Favorite Muffin? Morning Glory!
A lot of my friends and family are on health kicks right now. Which is keeping me hot on the hunt for healthy, satisfying recipes that are easy to make and freezer friendly. Enter: morning glory muffins! These are my favorite muffins ever, and I make them at least twice a month.
Have you ever had a healthy morning glory muffin before? They’re an old school bakery favorite, and have been one of my favorite baked goods since I was a kid. They’re so moist and tender and sweet. Add a cup of coffee and oh mah gosh… HEAVEN.
One of the best things about these muffins is how adaptable they are! You can sub walnuts for chopped pecans or sunflower seeds. Sub the raisins for other dried fruit. And you can even add a splash of orange juice for extra moist muffins!
These muffins are:
- Super moist and perfectly sweet
- Made with tons of fresh fruits and veggies
- Big on texture thanks to shredded carrot, nuts, coconut, apple, and raisins
- Vegan and dairy free, they’re safe for most diets
- Lightly spiced and bursting with flavor
- A hit with picky kids, teens, and adults (I always have a dozen in my freezer)
- Perfect for breakfast, snack, or even dessert
Morning Glory Muffins: Ingredients
These muffins are tailor-made to use up all those odds and ends you have hiding in the fridge. They’re loaded with:
- Carrots: Shredded carrots are a main ingredient in these muffins! I use a box grater to coarsely grate them. Shredded carrots add moisture and flavor.
- Apple: I also use a box grater to grate the apple. I like using honey crisp apples, but almost any apple variety will do. Unless you have a serious aversion to carrot/apple peels, there’s no need to take that extra step. These muffins are wonderfully rustic like that.
- Coconut: I use sweetened shredded coconut, but you can use flaked coconut or finely shredded coconut instead. If you don’t like coconut, feel free to omit.
- Walnuts: If you have a nut allergy, you may omit these. Or feel free to sub pecans.
- Raisins: During the holidays I sub raisins with dried cranberries, which is a nice swap. Feel free to do this – or use dried cherries – if you’re not a raisin fan.
- Oil: I use coconut oil because I love the flavor it adds to the muffins. If you’re not a fan, use a mild olive oil, canola oil, or vegetable oil. Or use refined coconut oil which has much less coconut flavor.
- Flour: I use whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour. You can use a 1 for 1 gluten free flour for gluten free morning glory muffins.
- Brown Sugar: Sweetens the morning glory muffins. White sugar (aka granulated sugar) or coconut sugar will work as a subs.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds its signature rich flavor while enhancing the other flavors in the muffins.
- Leavening Agents: Baking powder helps the muffins rise and baking soda helps the muffin batter spread in the muffin tin.
- Spices: Ground cinnamon, ground ginger, and salt enhance the flavors in these morning glory muffins.
- Applesauce: For best results use unsweetened unflavored applesauce. You can use an equal amount of ripe mashed bananas. But note that mashed bananas will add a strong banana flavor.
These muffins contain no eggs or any other animal products, so they’re vegan friendly. If you’d like to alter the original recipe, you may add an egg with the wet ingredients for extra moist muffins. You could also add a 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup of grated zucchini.
Let’s Make Morning Glory Muffins
- Baking Prep: Line a muffin tin with paper liners and set aside. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (F) at least 30 minutes prior to baking.
- Dry Ingredients: In large bowl whisk the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.
- Wet Ingredients: In a separate bowl combine the applesauce, oil, apple, and vanilla extract.
- Make the Muffin Batter: Fold in the shredded carrot, raisins, coconut, and walnuts.
- Fill the Muffin Tin: Divide the muffin batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. You want to fill the muffin tins all the way up to the top of the liners with batter.
- Bake the Muffins: You’ll bake the muffins at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat. Continue baking at 350 degrees until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Baking the muffins at two temperatures allows them to rise high, get a crunchy muffin top, but fully bake through.
- Cool the Muffins: Cool the muffins in the muffin pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. These are delish warm, at room temperature, or chilled.
The History of Morning Glory Muffins
- Pam McKinstry created the original recipe for morning glory muffins in 1978.
- Pam owned the Morning Glory Cafe, a small restaurant on Nantucket Island.
- The publication of the recipe in Gourmet magazine propelled the muffins to statewide popularity. They featured as one of its 25 favorite recipes!
What are Morning Glory Muffins?
- Morning glory muffins are a cross between carrot cake, carrot muffins, and apple muffins.
- Most versions use a variety of fruits and vegetables. Most typically you’ll see shredded carrots, apples, raisins, pecans, and shredded coconut.
- But some bakers have made them gluten free or add crazy ingredients like pumpkin – hello, pumpkin morning glory muffins!
- You can serve morning glory muffins for breakfast because they are hearty and substantial enough.
- But they’re also a delicious snack or afternoon treat with tea or coffee. Delicious warm or at room temperature!
These hearty and homemade muffins are just the thing to fill you up when you need a quick breakfast or afternoon snack. Better than any muffin you’ll grab from the bakery… and way cheaper, too. You can thank me later!
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