Morning Glory Muffin Recipe

From pumpkin to blueberry to caramelized pear, muffins come in all flavors and colors. I first spied this morning glory muffin at a local bakery in Berkeley, California, during the health food movement. I couldn’t decide if the muffin looked tasty, since it was full of healthy ingredients — carrots, coconut, raisins and nuts. It was delicious!

Through the years I have had many variations of this taste memory. And the truth is, along with all the veggies and fruit, there is a lot of sugar in this recipe. I haven’t tried it with less, but I bet you could lower the sugar a bit and the muffins would be totally satisfying since there is sugar in the fruit and carrots.

The story goes that these were first served at the Morning Glory Café in Nantucket, Massachusetts, in the late 1970s. They fell out of fashion with the introduction of French pastries like croissants and cronuts. Never one to follow fashion trends, I decided to prepare these recently. Based on a recipe from Butter, a bakery in Canada, these received raves from my guests at I brunch recently gave.

These muffins are loaded with fruits and carrots, held together by a classic muffin mix. These will make 12 huge muffins or 14 to 16 regular size muffins. You can decide what you want their size to be.

Flaxseed meal is a boon to digestion, so that acts as part of the flour here. The hardest part of making these muffins is putting all the ingredients together. I use a box grater to shred the apple and carrots.

As far as I am concerned these muffins never go out of style. These are delicious for breakfast with your favorite coffee concoction or delightful with tea in the later afternoon. These muffins freeze well, so make a large batch to freeze a few. Defrost and warm in a 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Morning Glory Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup flax seed meal
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 cups grated carrots
• 1 cup golden raisins
• 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 large apple, grated
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 12-muffin pan with baker’s spray. Place muffin paper liners in each one. Reserve.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, carrots, raisins, coconut, pecans and apple; mix well. Use a whisk to mix well.
3. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and vanilla.
4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. I use a rubber spatula and mix until fully blended, making sure there are no flour streaks.
5. Use large ice cream scoop to divide the batter evenly between the paper-lined cups. The batter will come to the top of each muffin cup.
6. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven and allow the muffins to cool slightly in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Sometimes I will split a warm one open and spread with sweet butter for a total comfort moment.

Diane Rossen Worthington is an authority on new American cooking. She is the author of 18 cookbooks, including “Seriously Simple Parties,” and a James Beard Award-winning radio show host. You can contact her at www.seriouslysimple.com.

©2024 Diane Rossen Worthington. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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