Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Good Morning Muffins


This may or may not be a blogpost about how I told my toddler we were having cupcakes for breakfast, when, in fact, we actually ate muffins full of fruit, vegetables, and wheat germ. And she liked it. 



I'm not a morning person. I would much rather stay up late and sleep in. Unfortunately, becoming a mother did not change my night owl ways and I'm no longer able to sleep in (even when my husband "tries" to "let me" - moms you know what I'm talking about...). As a result I'm almost always rushing out the door. Grab-and-go breakfasts are required in my life. Actually grab-and-go lunches are too. 

I've been relying on hard boiled eggs, avocados, and big batches of these breakfast burritos. But when my BFF had her baby last month I discovered the joy of Morning Glory Muffins. Pro-tip: When someone you know has a baby and you volunteer to bring food consider other meals besides dinner - new moms need to eat, like 24/7, not just in the evening. 

The aforementioned BFF requested this particular recipe for Morning Glory Muffins from King Arthur Flour. I made one batch for her and - the house smelled so delicious and the resulting muffins were so pretty - I had to make a batch for myself. Of course, I made a few changes.



Morning glory muffins are like a carrot cake met an apple cake and they made a wholesome little baby. I'm not a huge fan of raisins so I swapped them for dried cranberries. I also added some coconut flakes - I've been obsessed with them since working on this granola. I also swapped the nuts for pumpkin seeds - you know, for some season flair. You can make these with either the vegetable oil listed below or with an equal amount of full-fat yogurt. 


The ingredient list for these muffins might seems a little long and intimidating, but they come together quickly after all the prep work. If you have a food processor with a grating attachment you can throw both the carrots and apple in there and be baking these beauties in no time flat. A word to the wise though - be sure to spray your muffin liners with non-stick spray otherwise you'll have a difficult time removing the liners after baking. 

Good Morning Muffins 
Makes 12 muffins 

Adapted from King Arthur Flour's Morning Glory Muffins

1/2 cup dried cranberries
2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups peeled and grated carrots, about 3 large carrots
1 large tart apple cored and grated 
1/2 cup flake coconut
3/4 cup pepitas, divided
3 tablespoons wheat germ, optional
3 large eggs
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup orange juice, from approximately 1 small orange
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Heat the oven to 375°F. Line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners (I used these) and spray with non-stick spray.

Cover the cranberries with hot water, and set them aside to soak while assembling the rest of the ingredients.

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the carrots, apple, coconut, 1/2 cup pepitas, or wheat germ. Drain the cranberries and add them in.

In another bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and orange juice. Add this to the flour mixture, and stir just until moistened. Do not over mix.

Divide the batter evenly between the wells of the prepared pan. The cups will seem very full - do not worry! Top the muffins with the remaining pepitas.

Bake the muffins for 25 to 28 minutes, until they're nicely domed and a skewer inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes in the pan .  Then remove from the pan to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Store leftover in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. Tightly wrap individual muffins and freeze for up to a month. 


4 comments:

  1. one of my favvvvorite things to get at harry's are morning glory muffins. now i can make them! these look heavenly. my new "bringing food for new parents" thing is to pack some muffins too. dessert, breakfast... they can decide. also, chuckled at the husbands "trying" to let us "sleep in." righttttt...

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    1. Yes! I love that these will replace something you'd normally buy. I also have a friend who just replicated the Starbucks Pumpkin Muffins (with the cream cheese centers) once I master those I'll share too.

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  2. Made these a la your changes this morning so that I've got a good grab-and-go breakfast next week! Yum!

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