Even after years of baking, I could never really get behind the idea of morning glory muffins. When it comes to sweets, even for breakfast, I’m usually of the mindset that chocolate is a must and the sweeter the better–so why the need to add grated veggies to a baked good? But with the start of a new year and a return to balance after a lot of holiday cookies, I’m actually excited for a recipe that satisfies my sweet tooth just enough, while also being packed with fresh fruits and veggies, warming spices, and hearty oats for a healthful start to the day. Even better? These morning glory muffins are made completely in one bowl.
So let’s chat morning glory muffins. Of all the different kinds of muffin options out there, it’s fair to say that more popular options like a classic blueberry muffin or lemon poppyseed version tend to get more enthusiasm. After all, isn’t a muffin basically an excuse to eat cake for breakfast? I myself have often thought of morning glory muffins as basically cardboard plus raisins. But as it turns out, it was only because I hadn’t found a recipe that I particularly enjoyed and that would garner the same enthusiasm as any blueberry muffin. So as usual, I set out to change my own mind with a recipe that’s easy, packed with flavor, and delicious and nutritious enough for me to bake a batch on the weekend to eat all throughout my weekday mornings.
So, what exactly is a morning glory muffin?
The original morning glory muffin, from Morning Glory Cafe in Nantucket, is packed with the classics: shredded coconut, raisins, apple, pineapple, carrots, and nuts. It’s basically the kitchen sink varietal of muffins. I wanted to riff off the classic, cut back on the sugar, and make a few ingredient swaps for items that I have on hand at all times, while also making some preferential decisions. And honestly, that’s one of the beauties of a morning glory muffin. You can always swap in for ingredients you have or leave things out that you don’t like!
The healthier swaps
For my version, I swapped the white sugar for a bit of brown sugar and maple syrup. I like the extra bit of caramel and maple undertones that the sugars give instead of white sugar. But you could also swap coconut sugar for the brown sugar. I also used unsweetened apple sauce to add a bit of moisture and to add extra natural sweetness for where I cut the other sugar. This is one ingredient I always have on hand for baking. While I don’t eat applesauce cups like you would pack in a child’s lunchbox, I find them incredibly handy to have in my pantry for vegan baking swaps. You can find unsweetened applesauce in 4oz cups at the grocery store, so just grab some to keep in the back of the pantry!
The morning glory muffin add-ins
The add-ins, arguably the most important part of this muffin, are where we can have a bit of fun. While I love the carrot in a classic morning glory, I also added shredded zucchini and apple. I like the added benefit of added fruits and vegetables, plus, they add to the moisture of this muffin. An *important note* here, you’ll need to squeeze as much moisture as possible out of the shredded fruits and vegetables as you can. Otherwise, you’ll end up with very dense and squishy muffins, and no one wants that!
I left nuts out of the batter itself and instead opted to sprinkle them over the top, but you can totally add some chopped nuts like walnuts or pecans into the batter with some raisins if you prefer. I just like the crunchy texture of having them on top versus inside the fluffy batter.
The best part? This is a one bowl morning glory muffin recipe, so it really couldn’t be easier. Just prep all of your ingredients and add them to your mixing bowl to combine.
Scoop and fill your muffin liners all the way to the top to ensure a little bit of a dome, and bake. These morning glory muffins are incredibly easy, and incredibly delicious. They’ve even converted me and my blueberry muffin loyalty!
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These One-Bowl Morning Glory Muffins Are a Deliciously Healthy Start to the New Year
Description
Keep your dirty dishes to a minimum with this one-bowl recipe. These delicious morning glory muffins are versatile and convenient for breakfast or to snack on.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 eggs
- 8 oz unsweetened apple sauce (2 apple sauce lunchbox cups)
- 3 packed cups of fresh grated fruit and veg (I used 2 medium carrots, 1 zucchini, and 1 gala apple) – wring out as much liquid as you can with a kitchen towel
- 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- Freshly grated nutmeg (optional but I think makes a difference in the flavor)
- 1/4 cup oat flour (take 1/4 cup rolled oats and blitz in a blender into a coarse flour, or use store bought oat flour)
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- Sliced almonds and rolled oats for topping
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and line a 12-cup muffin tray with liners.
- Mix the brown sugar, maple syrup, and olive together in a stand mixer until smooth and syrupy
- Add the eggs, and combine
- Add the apple sauce and combine
- Add the grated fruit and veg and combine
- Add the shredded coconut and combine
- Whisk the dry ingredients and spices together in a bowl, then add to the bowl of the stand mixer. Stir in mixer until JUST combined, finish mixing by hand with a spatula – this will help prevent over mixing and tough muffins
- Fill muffin liner cups all the way to the top (I used three scoops of a 1.5 tbsp cookie scoop) – this will help get more of a domed bakery look rather than filling 3/4 of the way to the top
- Bake at 400 degrees F for 23 – 25 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean – don’t overbake these
- Let cool in muffin tray for 5 minutes, then cool on a wire rack. enjoy!
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Can coconut oil work instead of olive oil?
Hey Jean – yes I think melted coconut oil would work fine!
Recipe is goos
What are the calories for one muffin please?
When do you put the toppings on , before you put them in the oven or after they have baked?
Hey Dot – yes I add the sliced almonds and oats on before baking them!
Question – what can you substitute for the wheat flour to make this gluten free?
Hi Joanne – you could probably use oat flour! While I haven’t tried it myself, a gluten free 1-1 flour might work as well.
Gotta try this, 1st gotta get wheat flour
Do you happen to know the nutritional value for each muffin??
Hi Renee – I don’t have the nutritional info for each muffin, but they are packed with wholesome ingredients! (:
I don’t like maple syrup, what can I sub? Could I use monk fruit, and if I do should I add extra liquid?
Hey Nicole – while I haven’t tried it myself, I imagine honey could be used as a substitute. I would caution adding a ton of extra liquid as it might make the muffins a bit dense.
Can u use sugar free brown sugar and green apples
Hey Deborah – yes I think this would be fine as a substitute!
I don’t like coconut. Can I add more veggies or omit?
Hi Olga – yes you could leave out the coconut – I would caution adding more veggies in lieu of the muffins getting too dense. You could sub with some whole oats if you prefer!
Do you have nutrition information available for the muffins?
Hi Anna – I don’t have the nutritional info on these muffins – but they’re packed with wholesome ingredients! (:
Can you recommend a substitute for the shredded coconut (or would it be okay to leave it out)?
Hey Brittany – yes you could leave the shredded coconut out if you prefer! You could add some whole oats if you wanted to add some texture in place of it!
Is the nutritional value listed?
Is there any way to modify this recipe to possibly use almond flour or something that is lower in carbs. I’m also allergic to wheat and oats. This sounds fabulous, though. Thank you for sharing, I’m going to share it with my friends regardless. Have a great day!
Would it be possible to decrease the amount of sugar and maple syrup? The fruit and veg will add sweetness, will they not?
Thank you! Recipe sounds interesting!
Hey Angie – you could probably get away with reducing both sugars by a little bit without too much worry!
Haven’t tried them yet ,sound delicious.
How many grams of carbs is in one of the muffins prepared according to the recipe.
this presentation of your muffin was incredible written. you made it sound so good; i must make it. i’m sure they freeze well also. thanks for new recipe to explore.
Nice recipe will certainly try.
How do I change recipe to make lowellbraatenit to gluten free
These muffins are delicious!
I used an apple, carrots, pineapple and walnuts. Per your instructions, I was careful to not overmix the batter; and they were light and fluffy.
I’ll definitely make the recipe again and try some other additions.
So glad to hear you liked the recipe, Carla! They are definitely a favorite of mine (:
I have been making this recipe for awhile. Love putting pineapple in along with carrots and Granny Smith apples. King Arthur flour has the recipe on the bag. I also add nuts and raisins. My husband who is not really a muffin fan, loves them.
Decent.
I used most of this recipe to make mixed berry muffins. Didn’t have apple sauce, but had half an over-ripe banana that I used instead, swapped out the grated veggies for some berries that needed using up (adding them after combining the dry ingredients in, instead of before the coconut), and switching out the last tablespoon of maple syrup for honey when I ran out of maple syrup. Also used baking paper to improvise some cup liners, as I didn’t have any proper ones on hand.
Think I may have over-cooked them slightly – they came out slightly drier than I probably would’ve liked, and with the bases and sides very mildly burnt – but that’s likely from inexperience, combined with leaving the muffin tray sitting on the stove top/hotplate top while heating the oven (combined unit) during recipe prep.
Will probably use the recipe again, but perhaps with a tad less baking time, and trying to remember to not sit the muffin pan on the stove top.
Thanks Tabby! The fresh grated veggies and fruit in this recipe are what help add some moisture and keep the muffins from being dry, so I would suggest keeping those in for this specific recipe instead of swapping in berries.
If you’re looking to try a berry muffin recipe, this one is great and also packed with great ingredients: https://camillestyles.com/food/anti-inflammatory-turmeric-berry-muffins/
Love Christmas pudding any time
Cool on bottom oven rack or middle rack ????
Hey Ams – cool the muffins on a food wire rack on your kitchen counter!
I used your recipe and modified it a lot (different flours like buckwheat, almond meal, and a little all-purpose in addition to the whole wheat). I think so much that my muffins rose not at all! One thing I did was flip the baking powder and baking soda amounts – but since I put in more baking powder (than baking soda), that should have actually caused them to rise more.
I squeezed the juice from the pineapple, carrots, and zucchini into the brown sugar – which I subbed for maple syrup – so I don’t think that was the problem.
I also added raisins and walnuts. But I still don’t think that was the problem.
I’ll have to test my oven as perhaps it really wasn’t 400 degrees. And it took about 35-40 minutes to bake as opposed to your 25.
Does it need more fat? Do I need to do more than just combine the ingredients? Or should I make a well in the center of the combined dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into that?
Anyway, great recipe base – if I can just fix the rising problem!
I just made this recipe and it turned out really well. I used oat flour and gluten free flour and I juiced the zucchini, carrots and gala apple and used the pulp and then I drank the juice! So good! Thank you so much for this recipe!! ?
LOVE the idea of juicing the fruits/veg – so glad you liked the recipe, Linda!
I give it 5 stars! I followed the directions, except I added chopped walnuts to the batter and doubled the recipe. They were moist and delicious. A lot of work to make but worth it.
I loved this recipe. I made it for our Day After Christmas breakfast. I did leave out the coconut though because my DIL does not like coconut and did not put any toppings on it due to my grandson at a smidge shy of 2 because I did not want him to have any issues with him eating it. They were loved by all.
Aw so happy to hear these muffins were a hit, Ann!!
do you think you could omit the brown sugar and/or the maple syrup. I feel a cup of sugar (maple syrup and brown sugar()in these muffins will be too much for me to achieve a balanced breakfast
Hey Lisa – you could definitely reduce the amount of both sugars by a smidge. In testing, I found reducing the sugar by a lot or omitting entirely made the muffins dry and not as flavorful. Let me know if you try it out!
How much freshly grated nutmeg would you use in this recipe?
Hey Sarah – I probably used a little less than a 1/4 tsp of fresh nutmeg, so just a few swipes with a microplane zester/grater!
I love this recipe! Have made them twice, they’re so good. I like the idea of using zucchini since it provides more vegetables. I might add pineapple the next time and reduce amount of maple syrup and brown sugar.
So glad you love this recipe, Barbara! Let me know if you try the pineapple, would love to hear how it turns out!
Hi can I omit the eggs and use ground flax seed instead?
Hi Becky – yes I’ve made these with flax eggs before! They might rise a little bit less but still delicious!
These muffins are the best! I left out the zucchini (didn’t have any) and added a pinch of cardamom and goji berries and voila! Delicious!! Thank you!
Can you tell me how many grams of sugar are in each muffin?
I just found a website called whisk. You provide the link to the recipe and they will calculate nutritional and caloric values. Don’t know if it works on all recipes, but it’s worth a try
Morning Glory muffins are my favorite! Every time I make them someone wants the recipe. There are so many variations of this recipe so you just have to find one that works for you to those who are contemplating making them. I add more cinnamon to mine and walnuts instead of almonds. Though I’ve never added pineapple, applesauce or oats to mine, those ideas sound like a great addition. Thanks for sharing!