These Morning Glory muffins are made with apples, carrots, and virgin coconut oil. Good for you? Maybe. Delicious? Absolutely!
Create three mixes: 1) dry, 2) fruit/nut, and 3) wet. Toss 2 into 1, then fold in 3.
Ingredients
1 cups white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups AP flour
1/4 cup while wheat flour
3 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp clove
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups (unpeeled) grated carrots (from 2 large carrots)
1 large crisp (Granny Smith) apple, (peeled and) grated
1 cup (an 8-oz. can) pineapple chunks, liquid discarded, each chunk halved
1/2 cup (golden) raisins
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pistachios, pecans, or walnuts
1/4 cup crystalized ginger, chopped
3 eggs
1-2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Directions
- Place paper liners into a standard, 12-cup muffin tin; set aside.
- Preheat to 350°F. By hand, whisk together the sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl, 100 strokes. In a separate bowl, toss the carrots, apple, pineapple, raisins, nuts, and ginger. Add them to the flour mixture, and toss.
- In the (unwashed) bowl used for the carrot mixture, pour the vanilla into the eggs. Melt the coconut oil in the microwave. Add the vegetable oil to it, and immediately hand whisk it into the egg mixture until everything is fully combined, 50 vigorous strokes. Pour the liquid mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients and blend well with a flexible spatula, just until no dry flour remains. Do not overmix.
- Spoon batter into muffin tins, using all the batter, mounding as necessary. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean, 30-35 minutes, checking as soon as you hit the 25-minute mark. Cool muffins in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling. Store at room temperature for several days; freeze for longer storage.
I thought these muffins would be dense and heavy, but they’re not. They’re actually quite nice. When they’re initially baked and cooled, but are still slightly warm, the tops have a fantastic and delicate crunch to them. That crunch goes away once you store them, but their delicious flavor and marvelous texture remains.
Social Learning
The amount of ginger in this recipe is minimal. You might want to try more if you really love ginger. The current amount leaves you with a subtle and occasional hit of ginger. I like it. Although I can imagine wanting more, I’m also aware that ginger can quickly become overpowering in this context.
Although a six-cup muffin tin isn’t easy to come by, they do exist. Using two of them, you can bake these muffins in a toaster oven. Spoon the batter into all twelve cups, and bake one while the other waits its turn.
Coconut
I’m not experienced with coconut oil. I’d read that virgin coconut oil tastes like coconut – and after having purchased some for use in these muffins, I can tell you that it indeed does. In fact, it’s so delicious, I’d be tempted to spread it on toast. Tempted. I’m not sure I’d go through with it. Anway, my understanding is that if the coconut oil isn’t “virgin,” then it won’t taste like coconut. I can’t verify that.
My husband, bless his soul, eats almost everything, which is nice for me in as much as I can therefore cook whatever I want. But one of the few things he won’t eat is shredded coconut. He likes the flavor, but not the texture. Shredded coconut is often added to Morning Glory Muffins, which is what took me down the path that led to virgin coconut oil.
I can’t say that the muffins taste of coconut. I do suspect, though, that the virgin coconut oil contributes to the muffins’ delicious depth of flavor. I’d be interested to experiment with using virgin coconut oil for 100% of the oil in this recipe.
Morning Glory Muffins
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Oh I bet these are good. And moist!
Chef Mimi recently posted…Flaky Scallion Pancakes
Thanks, Mimi!
I’ve heard about these, and seen some called “Morning Glory” in the bakeries, but didn’t really know what they were. These sound delicious, and as soon as I make a trip to the store with coconut oil on my list, I’ll be giving them a try.
shoreacres recently posted…No Seven Year Glitch
If you don’t feel like going to the store, I have a feeling you could make these with vegetable oil and/or butter. But I do think that the virgin coconut oil lends a lovely flavor deep in the background.
Since I’ve never used coconut oil, it’ll be fun to try it!
shoreacres recently posted…No Seven Year Glitch
Cool! It was my first time using it, too!
Morning glory muffins are delicious. I especially like them in the fall. Nothing beats a warm muffin and a hot cup of coffee.
I use a lot of coconut oil, in fact it is a keto staple. There is a big difference in flavors using the virgin vs. non-virgin oils. I made the mistake of frying TheHubs eggs in virgin oil one time and it did NOT go over well!
In baked goods though, it is delicious!
Anne recently posted…Got a minute? For Cake!!!
We’re definitely heading into muffin season. But yeah, coconut eggs would probably not be the best!
All of my favorite ingredients. These look and sound delicious. I’m going to have to give these a try soon.
I hope you love them as much as I do!
These muffins look terrific and remind me of carrot cake!
angiesrecipes recently posted…Mirabelle Cake with Caramelised Almond Topping
They remind me of carrot cake, too.
Fruit salad in a muffin – I love it!!
Thanks!
Carrots, apples, raisins, pistachios, pineapple . . . these muffins sound great. Would the same basic ingredients work as a cake too?
I’m sure they would, and you’d get something a lot like a carrot cake. It’s really the method and ingredient proportions that produce a texture that differentiates a muffin from a cupcake.
So many beautiful textures and flavours happening here, from pinapple and crystallized ginger to the addition of nuts. Glorious muffins!
Thank you, Ben!
These amazing muffins also remind me of Hummingbird cake because of the pineapple and carrot, so your Hummingbird muffins for Morning Glory sound so delicious to me. They must be healthy, and I love the flavour that virgin coconut oil brings, I use it a lot. We also love lots of ginger. These have it all. Well done Jeff, great recipe.
Pauline McNee recently posted…Parsley, Pumpkin and Beetroot Hummus: a superb trio of flavours and colours
Thank you, Pauline! I’ve heard of hummingbird cake before, but I’m not very familiar with it. I’ll have to look it up.
Oh, I do love a good Morning Glory Muffin! Very creative way to get around the shredded coconut dilemma – that opens up a lot of possibilities now. What else can you coconutify using coconut oil? Also, I kinda need a batch of these muffins right now.
David @ Spiced recently posted…Arrabbiata sauce
I’ve been using it mainly in baked things, or anywhere that a very subtle hint of coconut would be welcome.
Mmmm…. one of my favorite muffins!! I’m way overdue to make a batch. It will be the perfect treat for my knitting group on Friday.
Awesome!
I remember having morning glory muffins many years ago… okay, decades… and I love them. I haven’t had one in a long time. I’m not a huge muffin eater, but one of these would make me very happy! And of course they’re healthy… They’re not full of horrible chemicals — They are the real deal!
Well, that’s true! Thanks, David!
My kind of muffin Jeff. I’ve never heard of Morning Glory muffins (muffins are not a big thing in Sweden), so now I’m really intrigued…
Just when I thought I loved Sweden! Actually, I had never heard of Morning Glory muffins, either, but a friend of mine asked me to look into them. I guess they used to be a thing.
Don’t get me wrong Jeff, you can find muffins here, but sweet buns and flaky buttery rolls (as in the Danish type) are more popular.
OK, now my love affair’s back on!
I don’t think I’ve ever used virgin coconut oil — need to get some. I like ginger, so I might be tempted to amp it up just a bit more. 🙂 These look great — thanks.
John+/+Kitchen+Riffs recently posted…The Floradora Cocktail
Thanks, John! I really love working with virgin coconut oil, now that I’ve found out about it.
A perfect breakfast or snack. I could go for one right now. I’m fortunate in that way too, my husband eats everything which gives me the luxury of cooking/baking whatever I want too.
Eva Taylor recently posted…Asian Inspired Instant Pot broiled Cod
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Jeff, Morning Glory muffins are no doubt delicious. Lots of moisture and flavor. I could eat these anytime of day.
Velva
Thanks, Velva!
all that fruit! so healthy are these muffins 🙂 I must be weird but i loathe coconut oil. Maybe it’s the recipe i made years ago with it where you make some vegan chocolate slice thingy and shove it in the freezer. uurrgghh all that cold oil left on your lips … eek!:)
sherry recently posted…In My Kitchen – September 2022
Eww! Well this is nothing like that!
These remind me a little bit of carrot cake muffins. But you’ve added in an apple and pineapple chunks so this intrigues me. I bet they taste fabulous and I’d definitely be up for eating one of these first thing in the morning!
Neil recently posted…Easy Slow Cooker Scotch Broth
Well come on over, Neil, and stay the night and you can have one in the morning!
Fruit AND vegetables? I’m saying they’re good for me. 😀 Seriously though, there is so much good stuff in these and they’ll be excellent with my morning coffee. ~Valentina
That they would!
I love the flavors of apples, carrots, and ginger. I probably would add extra ginger. They sound healthy to me!
Judee recently posted…Murals From our Trip to Montevideo
I think I might add more ginger, too.