Have you noticed the days getting longer?
We're 5 weeks past the shortest day of the year, and it shows – particularly in the morning, when the drive to work happens in broad daylight, rather than gray and gloomy almost-dawn.
Speaking of driving to work, what's an easy, fast, filling, and tasty way to eat breakfast on the run (or more likely, on the drive)?
Big hint at the top of this page, right?
Back in the day, muffins were everyone's favorite portable breakfast. Before scones, and Egg McMuffins, and breakfast burritos, there were muffins.
Tender, moist blueberry muffins, loaded with dark berries. Bright and tangy lemon-poppy seed.
Decadent chocolate chip; comforting banana.
And Morning Glory – which, if memory serves, were a darling of the '60s and '70s back-to-the-land movement. When seeds, nuts, dried fruit, and whole grains were suddenly on everyone's lips – literally.
Still life with Mother Nature, right?
The venerable Morning Glory is an earthy, whole-grain muffin that, despite the description, manages to taste very good indeed. Moist and just sweet enough, it's a great "eat in the car" treat – it needs the enhancement of neither butter nor jam (though either – or cream cheese – wouldn't be out of place).
Are you ready for a throwback breakfast? Let's make muffins.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or line it with papers and spray the insides of the papers.
In a small bowl, cover 1/2 cup (71g) raisins with hot water, and set them aside to soak.
Next up: grated apple and carrots.
The recipe calls for 1 large apple, peeled; I don't bother to peel. The recipe is so full of seeds and nuts anyway, who cares about a bit of apple peel?
So, put one large, tart, firm apple (e.g., Granny Smith), cored and cut in chunks; and 3 medium carrots (about 198g), peeled and cut in chunks, into your food processor. Process until pretty finely chopped, but not puréed.
Don't have a food processor? You'll need to chop by hand.
Next, stir together the following in a mixing bowl:
2 cups (227g) King Arthur Golden Wheat Flour or Premium Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup (213g) brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
Drain the 1/2 cup raisins and add them to the bowl, along with the grated/chopped apple and carrots, plus the following:
1/2 cup (43g) shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
1/2 cup (57g) chopped walnuts
1/3 cup (43g) sunflower seeds or wheat germ, optional
Beat gently to combine.
Whisk together the following:
3 large eggs
2/3 cup (131g) vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup (57g) orange juice
Add to the flour mixture, and stir until evenly moistened. You'll have a fairly loose (though chunky) batter.
Divide the batter among the wells of the prepared pan, filling them all the way to the top; a muffin scoop works well here.
You'll probably have batter left over; that's OK, we'll deal with it later.
See how full these are? Not the usual 3/4 full, it's true, but with this muffin it works.
Bake the muffins for 25 to 28 minutes, until they're nicely domed and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Remove them from the oven, let them cool for 5 minutes in their pan, then turn them out onto a rack to finish cooling.
See? They didn't overflow.
This is a muffin that domes very nicely, even with all that batter in the cup.
Speaking of all that batter, what do you do with the leftover?
Well, hope triumphed over reason for me. I thought, I can just put these paper muffin cups into a bread pan, fill 'em up, and they'll kinda support one another as the muffins bake...
They did – just not in the way I'd imagined! Hey, beauty is only crust-deep, right? They still tasted good. But next time, I'd use foil muffin cups, which would indeed hold their shape.
Now THAT'S a muffin with character! Look at all that good stuff...
As I mentioned above, these muffins are nicely moist, perfectly (but not overly) sweet, and don't really need jam or butter. But maybe a dollop of fig-walnut preserves? I'm there.
Good morning, sunshine!
Read, bake, and review (please) our recipe for Morning Glory Muffins.
August 13, 2024 at 10:10am
Hello, the recipe here with work pictures says 2tsp baking soda in the ingredient list, but the recipe without pictures says 1tsp. Was that a misprint or do both work?
August 15, 2024 at 10:59am
In reply to Hello, the recipe here with… by S (not verified)
Hi there! Thanks so much for reaching out. The information has been updated to reflect the same amount of leavening in both the blog and the recipe. You will want to use 1 teaspoon of baking soda. Happy Baking!
July 3, 2023 at 8:51am
These look amazing. I am wondering what I could sub for the coconut, would banana work?
July 3, 2023 at 12:50pm
In reply to These look amazing. I am… by Anita (not verified)
Hi Anita, the coconut will function more like nuts or seeds in this recipe, so you might want to add a little more of those ingredients rather than adding a relatively liquid ingredient like banana. Or you could just leave the coconut out and the recipe should still work fine.
June 26, 2023 at 7:34pm
This recipe is a keeper :) Thank you for sharing.
June 22, 2023 at 1:18pm
I remember eating a morning glory muffin for the first time in Brookline Mass at a coffee shop called Edibles. I have yet to find a recipe for one as good as I remember that muffin tasting. These, finally, 30 years later, hit the mark.
June 22, 2023 at 2:52pm
In reply to I remember eating a morning… by Jill (not verified)
That's quite the compliment, Jill! Thanks so much for giving them a try.
June 10, 2023 at 9:02pm
I made this recipe from one of the most recent baking books and I feel like it didn't call for the addition of orange juice and I don't have any (or any substitute besides buttermilk, which...really?) So did the published book not include OJ? Or can I skip it?
June 11, 2023 at 9:49am
In reply to I made this recipe from one… by Gail Garcia (not verified)
Hi Gail, the recipe for Morning Glory Muffins in our new edition of the All-Purpose Baker's Companion is, indeed, a little different from this recipe. It calls for our Unbleached All-Purpose flour rather than White Whole Wheat, which I think explains the omission of the orange juice. Whole wheat flour absorbs more liquid than AP flour and many of our recipes that call for whole wheat flour include orange juice as well, because this ingredient is thought to temper the bitterness of regular whole wheat flour. While the orange juice is certainly helpful in the whole wheat version of this recipe, I don't think it's necessary in the recipe you made. If you want to make this recipe and you don't have orange juice, I think it would work fine to substitute milk or water for the orange juice, as the brown sugar and the tart apples are likely supplying the necessary acidity to activate the baking soda.
April 20, 2022 at 12:58pm
Just made these last night but used chopped Turkish apricots vs the jammy bits cuz I couldn't find any at my local store. They turned out SOOO good! Ps...I had enough batter for 2 more muffins and ALMOST did what you did at the end...haha! Made me chuckle seeing your pics...LOL. Great recipe looking forward to making these often might try pepitas next time and chia seeds...
Pagination