Morning Glory Muffins
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Morning glory muffins are good to eat and good for you. True to their name, they’re a glorious way to start your day.
Morning glory muffins are brimming with wholesome goodness. Packed with nourishing ingredients, like whole wheat flour, carrots, apples, raisins, walnuts, orange juice, coconut and wheat germ, these muffins were created decades ago by Chef Pam McKinstry for her Morning Glory Café on Nantucket Island. They’re a throwback to the 1970’s “back-to-the-land” movement, when wholesome hippie foods were all the rage. True to their name, these muffins are a glorious way to kick-start your day—a true testament to feel-good, homemade baking.
Table of Contents
“I’ve been making this recipe for a few years now and it never disappoints! The muffins are moist and delicious. I usually double the recipe and keep some in freezer so we always have them on hand!”
What You’ll Need To Make Morning Glory Muffins
- Raisins: Add natural sweetness and bursts of flavor to the muffins.
- White Whole Wheat Flour: Provides a nutritious base for the muffins, offering fiber and whole-grain goodness. I recommend King Arthur brand. Measure by spooning it into the measuring cup and leveling it off to ensure accuracy.
- Brown Sugar: Sweetens the muffins while adding a hint of molasses flavor.
- Baking Soda: Act as leavening agents helping the muffins rise.
- Cinnamon and Ginger: Infuse the muffins with warm, aromatic spices.
- Eggs: Bind the ingredients together and provide structure to the muffins.
- Vegetable Oil: Adds moisture to the muffins, ensuring they are tender and moist.
- Orange Juice: Adds a hint of citrus brightness.
- Vanilla Extract: Adds depth of flavor and enhances the overall taste of the muffins.
- Shredded Carrots: Provide moisture, natural sweetness, and a pop of color to the muffins.
- Apple: Adds sweetness, moisture, and a fruity flavor to the muffins. Tart varieties, like Granny Smith, work best.
- Shredded Coconut: Adds texture and a tropical flavor to the muffins. Either sweetened or unsweetened coconut will work.
- Chopped Walnuts: Contribute crunch, texture, and nutty flavor to the muffins.
- Wheat Germ: Adds nuttiness, texture, and nutritional value to the muffins, enriching them with vitamins and minerals.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Begin by soaking the raisins in hot water. This softens and plumps them up.
Meanwhile, grate the carrots and apple. I use a food processor but you can also use a box grater.
If you’re making your own orange juice, juice the orange.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt.
Combine, using your fingers to break up any lumps of brown sugar.
In a separate bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, orange juice, and vanilla extract.
Add the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture, along with the grated apple, grated carrots, wheat germ, walnuts, coconut, and drained raisins.
Mix until evenly moistened and combined. The batter will be very thick.
Divide the batter into the wells of a greased 12-cup muffin pan. They will be very full.
Bake for about 25 minutes, until muffins are nicely domed. Cool in the pan for a few minutes, then turn the muffins out onto a rack to cool completely.
The muffins are best enjoyed fresh, but they will keep nicely for a few days and they also freeze well. Serve with butter and enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Like it’s darker cousin, it is 100% whole wheat flour; the difference between the two is the color of the wheat it’s harvested from. White whole wheat is lighter and milder tasting than regular whole wheat flour yet just as nutritious. If you can’t find it, go ahead and use regular whole wheat flour — or, for lighter-tasting muffins, use half whole wheat flour and half all-purpose flour. (And if you’re wondering what else to do with that bag of whole wheat flour, try my apple muffins, Irish soda bread muffins, or Ovenly’s famous whole wheat banana bread.)
Absolutely! Feel free to customize the recipe to suit your preferences or dietary restrictions. No wheat germ? You can replace it with wheat bran, ground flaxseed, or ground oats. Also, you can omit the raisins, coconut, or walnuts if you don’t like them or substitute them with other ingredients like dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, chopped pecans, or additional shredded carrots or apples. Just be mindful of maintaining the overall moisture and texture of the batter when making substitutions.
Sure, they will keep nicely, covered, at room temperature, for several days.
Definitely! The muffins can be frozen in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag for up to 3 months. Thaw for 3 to 4 hours on the countertop before serving. To reheat, wrap individual muffins in aluminum foil and place in a preheated 350°F oven until warm.
My starting point for this recipe was the Morning Glory Muffins on the King Arthur Flour website — a fantastic baking resource. I found their version to be a bit bland, so I increased the spices, raisins, walnuts, and sugar.
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Morning Glory Muffins
Morning glory muffins are good to eat and good for you. True to their name, they’re a glorious way to start your day.
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup raisins
- 2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour (or Whole Wheat Flour), spooned and leveled
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup orange juice (if making your own, you'll need one orange)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups peeled and shredded carrots (you'll need 4-5 large carrots)
- 1 large tart apple, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored and shredded
- ½ cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
- ⅔ cup chopped walnuts
- ⅓ cup wheat germ
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water. Set them aside to soak.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.
- Drain the raisins, squeezing out any excess water with your hands.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, orange juice, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture, along with the drained raisins, carrots, apple, coconut, walnuts, and wheat germ. Mix until the batter is evenly moistened and combined.
- Divide the batter among the wells of the prepared pan. They will be very full.
- Bake the muffins for about 25 minutes, until they're nicely domed and a cake tester inserted in the center of one of the inner muffins comes out clean.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and let cool in the pan on a rack for about 5 minutes. Turn the muffins out onto the rack to cool completely. Cover and store at room temperature for several days.
- Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The muffins can be frozen in an airtight container or sealable plastic bag for up to 3 months. Thaw for 3 to 4 hours on the countertop before serving. To reheat, wrap individual muffins in aluminum foil and place in a preheated 350°F oven until warm.
Nutrition Information
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- Serving size: 1 muffin
- Calories: 367
- Fat: 18g
- Saturated fat: 3g
- Carbohydrates: 50g
- Sugar: 29g
- Fiber: 5g
- Protein: 6g
- Sodium: 346mg
- Cholesterol: 47mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Just what I was looking for. Thank you for skipping the pineapple: it is such a treat to be able to bake with ingredients on hand. I made three edits: added the zest from the orange; cut down the sugar to about 3/4 cup because of the sweetness of the carrots, raisins and apples; used oat bran instead of wheat germ (as that’s what I had on hand). My one recommendation for the recipe writer is to also include weights, esp for things like flour, as that is more accurate than volume.
After a quick review of the other comments I was surprised not to find a single one mentioning the overwhelmingly strong soda flavor. I followed the recipe to a T (except I didn’t add the raisins) and I baked them in a mini-muffin tin. I bit into one and it had that strong baking soda flavor, so I figured I didn’t blend the dry ingredients enough. But then my sister tried one, same. We both picked two more random ones, same. I finally realized that it was probably due to the altitude–we live in CO, 5000′ above sea level so not mountain high but it’s the only thing I can think of. I also checked a couple of other mornig glory muffin recipes and most of them call for only 1 tsp baking soda. SO If you’re baking at HIGH ALTITUDE, decrease the baking soda in this recipe and maybe add a touch more liquid, they’re also a bit on the dry side. I ended up throwing out the entire batch, oh well, lesson learned.
Thank you! I’m new to high altitude baking and will try your adjustment:)
What would be a good substitute for the gluten? One to one flour, but what about the wheat germ?? Thanks
Hi Deb, You can sub flaxseed or more gluten-free flour for the wheat germ.
I love these. Hands down crowd pleaser
Very good recipe. We are enjoying them and sharing with friends.
Excellent recipe. So moist and tasty.
These turned out amazing! I got up on a Sunday morning and realized I had everything here to make these for my husband and me, plus extra!
We had just picked apples, and I added in some pear from our little tree plus 4 heaping spoons of paw paw purée that a friend brought us at our farmers market booth.
Truly a perfect recipe for a healthy breakfast..thank you!
Catherine
Blue Lotus Ranch
Jenny,
I have high cholesterol. Any suggestions for modifying the eggs? Whites only! Egg substitute?
Thanks!
Margot
Hi Margot, these should work with an egg substitute. I’ve never baked with just egg whites; I just googled it and it looks like it’s possible. This article provides some more info on getting good results. Hope that helps!
Can you add pineapple to this recipe? If so, how much and do I need to change anything else?
Thanks
Hi Judy, I haven’t tried it, but I think you could replace either 1 cup of the carrots or the apple with 1 cup of diced pineapple. Just make sure it’s drained of any juice. Please LMK how it turns out if you try it!
I’ve been wanting to try these muffins for a while now, and finally did this past Sunday (Easter 4/17/22). Muffins are one of my favorite things when baking — there are a million ways to make them, tons of different recipes to follow, and ingredients you can use, and they tend to go together pretty quickly and easily. Almost foolproof!
These reminded me very much of carrot cake, with the exception of the apple. They came out very good — not dry or too dense, still moist, and very tasty. I didn’t find them overly sweet, as some have suggested, possibly because I left out the coconut. I used only the cup of brown sugar, and left out the extra couple of tablespoons, so maybe that made the difference. I didn’t use the walnuts (not a big fan of any kind of nut, so I typically leave them out in whatever recipe calls for them), and used only half of the apple. Didn’t see the need for the wheat germ either. But leaving those things out didn’t seem to change the results at all. Next time, I may leave out the apple, may try some pineapple in lieu of the coconut, and use the pineapple juice in place of the orange.
They were a bit labor-intensive, but certainly worth the extra bit of work. I baked them at 350, didn’t really time them (I don’t usually, preferring to go by the look, and use a cake tester to check for doneness). Not sure how long they cooked, but they browned up nicely, and were perfectly done when I took them out of the oven. I did use baking cups, and sprayed the insides of them before filling. The cups peeled right off once the muffins were cool — no problem with sticking.
For me, this recipe made a batch of 12 medium-size muffins. I froze six of them for later use, so we’ll see how they hold up. A good hearty muffin that can be eaten for breakfast, but also make a good lunch with a cup of yogurt, or you could even pair them with a cup of soup.
All in all, a great recipe, and I will make these again.