Morning Glory Muffins
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These Morning Glory Muffins are perfect for those mornings when you want to feel healthy, but a smoothie won’t do. Packed with nutritious ingredients like carrots, apples, raisins and walnuts, they’ll warm you up and add a little sweetness as you start your day.
These Morning Glory Muffins are adapted from my Carrot Muffin recipe. I use my go-to muffin method for mixing, as I do for all my quick bread and muffin recipes.
I added apples, walnuts and raisins to make these Morning Glory Muffins something special. They are sweet, dense and moist but don’t feel too heavy.
These muffins are satisfying as an afternoon snack pick-me-up. But if you want the full experience, try them warm from the oven with a slab of melted butter.
With cozy spices, raisins and carrots, these Morning Glory Muffins will remind you of a slice of carrot cake, without the cream cheese frosting. If you love these Morning Glory Muffins and are feeling inspired, try my pineapple carrot cake or my carrot cake scones.
Recipe Details
- Taste – Lightly spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, orange zest, and vanilla, these moist muffins remind me of carrot cake.
- Texture – A combination of oil and butter is used for flavor and moisture. This allows the muffins to bake up dense yet tender and moist.
- Ease – The batter uses the muffin method for mixing. You need two bowls, a whisk, and a spatula. Making it easy to whip up in just a few minutes.
- Time – The longest part of the process is grating the carrots and apples. Once that is complete, it takes around 10 minutes to prepare the batter and 22 minutes to make the muffins.
What You’ll Need
For The Muffins
Morning Glory Muffins require basic ingredients – but the end result is anything but!
- Flour: All-purpose flour is what I used for this recipe. Any brand is fine but I always use Bob’s Red Mill.
- Sugar: Brown sugar adds depth and sweetness to the recipe. I prefer dark brown sugar in this recipe, but you can use light brown or granulated sugar if you prefer.
- Baking soda: This is used for leavening.
- Spices: A mix of cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and salt is used for added flavor.
- Carrots: Use a box grater to finely shred carrots. Avoid using the packaged carrots that come pre-shredded. Those are too dry.
- Apples: The apples are also grated for this recipe. Use Macintosh, Honey Crisp or another crisp apple for the best sweet flavor.
- Raisins: Hydrating the raisins in water before baking adds extra moisture to the muffins and keeps the raisins from burning. I love the flavor of golden raisins with carrots – try them if you never had before.
- Walnuts: These add crunch and flavor, but as always, if you are worried about allergies, feel free to omit.
- Orange Zest: A tablespoon of orange peel adds a bright citrus zest to this recipe.
- Eggs: Three large eggs are used for binding.
- Oil and butter: A combination of oil and unsalted butter is used. The recipe calls for vegetable or canola oil but you can use any flavorless oil you prefer.
- Vanilla extract: As always, use a good quality pure vanilla extract. Homemade vanilla is also a wonderful option.
Recommended tools
This recipe comes together quickly using standard equipment. These are the items I find most useful:
- Mixing bowls: You need a large mixing bowl and a 2-cup liquid measuring cup.
- Silicone spatula: A large silicone spatula is great for stirring the ingredients together.
- Whisk: A whisk is needed to mix the dry ingredients together.
- Muffin pan: This is my all-time favorite muffin pan.
- Scoop: This scoop makes it easy to portion the batter.
- Box grater: I highly recommend shredding the carrots and apples using a box grater.
- Citrus zester: This microplane grater can be used to zest citrus peels and grates everything from hard cheese to ginger.
How to Make Morning Glory Muffins
The Batter – The best Morning Glory Muffins will be dense but soft. The batter is mixed using the muffin method and it’s important not to overmix when combining the ingredients.
Before you begin, line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and heat the oven to 375°F. Also, make sure the eggs are at room temperature. They are easier to mix in when they’re not cold from the fridge.
- Add raisins to a small bowl and cover with hot water to plump them up. Set them aside.
- Combine the dry ingredients: Place the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger and cloves together and use a whisk to stir until everything is combined.
- Drain the raisins. Add the grated carrots, grated apples, raisins and walnuts to the flour mixture. Toss together with a spatula.
- Combine the wet ingredients: In a 2-cup liquid measuring cup or small bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, orange zest, butter, and vanilla together until well combined.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
- Divide batter evenly between muffin cups. I use a 4 tablespoon ice cream scoop to portion the dough. The cups will be almost filled – this is perfectly fine.
5. Bake the muffins for 18-20 minutes until golden brown. They’re done when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached.6. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, or smother one in softened butter and enjoy immediately.
Tips For Success
- Make sure you properly measure the flour before you begin.
- The eggs must be at room temperature. Set them out 30 minutes to 1 hour before you begin making the muffins. If you are in a rush, place the whole egg in a bowl of warm tap water for 5-10 minutes.
- Don’t skip the step of plumping the raisins in water – the added moisture keeps them from drying out when cooking. If you don’t like raisins use dried cranberries or cherries instead.
- Use melted butter that has cooled slightly so it doesn’t scramble the eggs when you mix them together.
- Be careful not to overmix the batter. You want the ingredients to be just combined – otherwise the muffins will be tough.
- Do not overbake or the muffins will be dry. Start checking for doneness at 18 minutes.
- This recipe calls for vegetable oil but use any neutral/ flavorless oil you prefer.
FAQs
Yes! These can be made gluten-free by using Bob’s Red Mill 1-to-1 Gluten-Free Baking Flour.
Of course. Omit the nuts if you don’t like nuts or are concerned about allergies.
Try other dried fruits like cranberries or cherries.
Yes. You can reduce the sugar by half if you want a less sweet muffin.
Storage & Freezing
- Morning Glory Muffins are best the day they are made but they can be stored for later use. Place the muffins in an airtight container and keep them at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 1 week.
- Or freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw one or all of the muffins in the refrigerator overnight. Or place a single frozen muffin in the microwave for 40-60 seconds.
Morning Glory Muffins
Ingredients
- ½ cup (65 g) raisins
- 2 cups (260 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (100 g) dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 cups (200 g) peeled and grated carrots
- 1 cup (100 g) cored and grated apple, peeled or unpeeled
- ½ cup (60 g) walnuts
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup (113 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- ⅓ cup (80 ml) vegetable oil, or canola oil
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Add raisins to a small bowl and cover with hot water. Set them aside.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin pan or line with paper liners and lightly spray the liners with nonstick spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cloves together.
- Strain the raisins and add them along with the carrots, apple, and walnuts to the flour mixture. Toss together with a silicone spatula.
- In a separate bowl or in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup, whisk the eggs, butter, oil, orange zest, and vanilla together until well combined.
- Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and stir with a silicone spatula until just combined. Don't overmix the batter or the muffins will be tough.
- Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cups and bake for 18-22 minutes, until golden brown.
- Cool in the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Raisins: Don’t skip hydrating the raisins. This prevents them from burning during baking. If you don’t like raisins try using other dried fruits like cherries or cranberries.
- Flour: Be sure to measure the flour correctly. Using too much flour by accident can lead to dense, dry muffins.
- Sugar: I prefer dark brown sugar in this recipe. Its rich molasses flavor pairs well with the other ingredients. You may use light brown sugar or granulated sugar if you prefer.
- Apple: I used a Honey Crisp apple and loved the results. It’s juicy and sweet making it perfect for this already lightly sweetened muffin.
- Grating carrots and apples: Use a box grater or a food processor with a fine grating blade. Avoid store-bought shredded carrots as they are too dry. Aim for fine shreds so they’ll cook down during baking and offer moisture to the muffins.
- Walnuts: You may substitute other nuts or seeds in place of walnuts.
- Muffins will stay fresh for up to 3 days stored in an airtight container at room temperature or up to 1 week stored in the refrigerator.
- They will keep for up to 3 months stored in the freezer. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight. You may wish to warm them in the microwave for 10-12 seconds. Or place a single frozen muffin in the microwave for 40-60 seconds.
Nutrition
The nutrition information provided is for convenience and as a courtesy only. It is not guaranteed to be accurate because nutrition information can vary for a variety of reasons. For precise nutritional data use your preferred nutrition calculator and input the exact ingredients and brands you used in the recipe.
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