Morning Glory Muffins

Andrew and I are both on a post-vacation health kick. We always eat relatively healthy, and rarely eat out. But this week, we wanted to kick it up a notch. Sunday, we went grocery shopping and made a meal plan for the week that would keep us on track.

I've been wanting to make these muffins for a while now. I used to make them pretty frequently, and they're so simple and really filling. I got the recipe from my mom, it is from her With Love & Butter cookbook (which also has the best blueberry muffin recipe)!

I had yet to make these for Andrew, and I was pretty sure he'd like them. Plus they would be easy for him to bring to work as a snack. I'm already thinking of a few substitutions I can make to lighten these up even more. Next week, I think I'll try making them again, but substitute whole wheat flour and use apple sauce rather than oil. If they turn out, I'll modify the recipe for you :-)

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Morning Glory Muffins 

From With Love & Butter

Ingredients

2 cups flour

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups coarsly grated carrot, packed

1 cup corsely grated apple (including peel)

1/2 cup raisins (I don't like raisins, so I left them out)

1/2 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut

1/2 sliced almonds

3 eggs

1/3 cup mild tasting oil (I used vegetable)

6 tablespoons thawed apple juice concentrate

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

              Preheat the oven to 375* with the rack in the center position, line a muffin tin with 10 liners.

                

Mix the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add carrot, apple, raisins, coconut, and almonds and toss with your fingertips until all the fruit and nuts are covered with flour.

Blend the eggs, oil, apple juice concentrate, and vanilla in a bowl or blender and pour on top of everything else. Mix until combined. Mound the batter into the 10 muffin cups. These muffins are quite dense and don't rise very much, so you will need to shape them above the rim with an ice cream scoop or your hand (I used an ice cream scoop).

Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake another 10 to 15 minutes or until the muffins no longer look gooey inside.

*In the past, I've found storing these in a Tubberware or freezer bags makes them get a little sticky, or soggy on top. So this time, I put them in a Pyrex pan and covered them with foil and it worked great.

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Although these muffins were fun to make, the best part was photographing them for the blog! I think I've found my favorite thing to photograph, FOOD! I shouldn't be surprised really... So anyways, that explains why there are nearly 50 pictures for this recipe, I was just having too much fun :) Hopefully you enjoyed looking at them.

I definitely recommend giving this recipe a try, these muffins are delicious and relatively guilt free.  They're perfect by themselves, or warmed up with a little honey, I've even crumbled part of one over some fresh fruit and yogurt.

I hope you're all having a great day!