You are going to love these morning glory muffins. They are filled with hidden fruit and veggies, so they’re a fantastic way to start the day off. Deliciously soft, moist, and spiced, these are healthier and more wholesome than your traditional muffins. They are so satisfying and hearty, making them perfect with a cup of coffee in the morning or enjoyed as a grab-and-go snack.
Great for kids and grownups alike, these muffins will quickly become a favorite. You’ll love all the flavors and textures from the fruits and vegetables. Try my tasty banana muffin recipe, lemon poppy seed muffins, or my blueberry muffin recipe for another delicious muffin recipe.
What You Need to Make This Recipe
Whole wheat flour — I like using whole wheat flour for these breakfast muffins as it contains more fiber than white flour and is a healthier option.
Warming spices — cinnamon and nutmeg give this muffin recipe its warm cozy flavor.
Brown sugar — light brown sugar adds a caramel or toffee-like flavor to the muffins. The brown sugar helps keep the muffins soft and moist as well.
Walnuts — the nuts add a nice crunchy texture to your muffins and are a great addition of healthy fats.
Carrots — an easy way to sneak in extra vegetables, grated carrots blend into these muffins seamlessly. The carrots add sweetness and moisture to the muffins.
Apples — the shredded apples add both moisture and sweet flavor to the muffins as well. You can use any type of apple that you would like in these healthy breakfast muffins. Honeycrisp, fuji, or gala apples are great as they’re sweet.
How to Make Morning Glory Muffins
1. Prepare the ingredients by chopping the walnuts and grating the carrots and apples.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Stir in the raisins and walnuts.
3. Whisk together brown sugar, oil, orange juice, eggs, and vanilla in another bowl.
4. Stir in the carrots, apple, and coconut.
5. Combine the wet and dry ingredients and fold together just until no streaks of flour remain.
6. Divide the batter among the paper liners. Bake the muffins for 7 minutes before reducing the oven temperature and continue baking for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let the muffins cool for a few minutes in the pan before allowing them to cool completely on a wire rack.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- Make sure the baking powder is not expired, so your muffins will rise for that classic dome top.
- Using a box grater is a fast way to grate the carrots uniformly. Do not skip peeling the carrots beforehand!
- Don’t use an electric mixer, or you could over-mix the batter, resulting in dense muffins or large holes in the crumb. Instead, mix until everything is just combined by hand. This is the secret to moist and fluffy muffins!
- Bring your eggs to room temperature so they incorporate fully into the batter effortlessly. If they’re cold, place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for a couple of minutes before using them.
- Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake, leading to a dense morning glory muffin. The best and easiest way to measure flour is by using a digital scale.
- I recommend using real vanilla extract over artificial vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Make sure the oven temperature is high to start. The high temperature helps the tops of the muffins spring up into the iconic dome muffin top.
- If you don’t want to use paper liners, make sure to grease the muffin tin generously.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some substitutions I can make?
While I don’t usually suggest too many substitutes for baking, or the end results might not come out right, these muffins are very versatile and easily customizable.
- Raisins: you can use any other dried fruit in their place, such as dried cranberries, dried apricots, or dried blueberries.
- Walnuts: any chopped nuts or seeds such as pistachios, pecans, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds make for a great alternative to walnuts.
- Orange juice: pineapple juice or milk works well in place of orange juice.
- Apple: if you don’t like apples, try grated zucchini instead.
How do I store the muffins?
This morning glory muffin recipe will stay fresh at room temperature for 2 days. Since they use many fresh ingredients such as carrots, apples, and raisins, they will spoil faster at room temperature than other muffins. Make sure the muffins are completely cool before storing as the moisture from the condensation will make them soggy. To have them last up to a week, store the muffins covered in the fridge. Reheat or enjoy the muffins as is.
Can I freeze the muffins?
Yes. Once the muffins have cooled to room temperature, wrap them individually with plastic wrap and store them in the freezer for up to 3 months. Alternatively, you can flash freeze them on a lined sheet pan before transferring them to a large freezer-safe bag. Flash freezing them allows you to pull them out individually to thaw.
Why are they called morning glory?
These muffins were created by Pam McKinstry, owner of the “Morning Glory Cafe” in Nantucket. Their name comes from the cafe, as well as the ‘back-to-the-land’ movement of using healthy, wholesome ingredients to start your day off gloriously.
If you love this recipe try these out!
If you’ve tried this Morning Glory Muffins recipe, then don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you!
Morning Glory Muffins
Equipment
- Muffin pan
- Large bowls
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole wheat flour (240g)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup raisins (80g)
- ½ cup chopped walnuts (50g)
- 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- ½ cup vegetable oil (120ml)
- ¼ cup orange juice (about 1 orange/60ml)
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups peeled and grated carrots (3 to 4 carrots/200g)
- 1 cup cored and grated apple (about 1 large apple/120g)
- ½ cup sweetened shredded coconut (60g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Stir in the raisins and walnuts.
- In another medium bowl, whisk together brown sugar, oil, orange juice, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the carrots, apple, and coconut. Pour the sugar mixture into the flour mixture, and fold together just until no streaks of flour remain.
- Divide the batter among the paper liners. They will be almost full.
- Bake for 7 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350F and continue baking for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown and a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let the muffins cool for a few minutes in the pan. Remove and cool completely on a wire rack.
Notes
- Make sure the baking powder is not expired, so your muffins will rise for that classic dome top.
- Using a box grater is a fast way to grate the carrots uniformly. Do not skip peeling the carrots beforehand!
- Don’t use an electric mixer, or you could over-mix the batter, resulting in dense muffins or large holes in the crumb. Instead, mix until everything is just combined by hand. This is the secret to moist and fluffy muffins!
- Bring your eggs to room temperature so they incorporate fully into the batter effortlessly. If they’re cold, place the eggs in a bowl of warm water for a couple of minutes before using them.
- Measure the flour correctly! Adding too much flour to the recipe is the most common mistake, leading to a dense muffin. The best and easiest way to measure flour is by using a scale.
- I recommend using real vanilla extract over artificial vanilla extract for the best flavor.
- Make sure the oven temperature is high to start. The high temperature helps the tops of the banana muffins spring up into the iconic dome muffin top.
- If you don’t want to use paper liners, make sure to grease the muffin tin generously.
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