Morning Glory Muffins

Muffins have held a special place in my heart ever since I saw the Seinfeld episode where Kramer tries to give away  muffin stumps to the homeless after Mr. Lipman opens "Top of the Muffin to You!"  Now, as a lover of all carbs, it's a travesty in my mind to let a perfectly good muffin stump go to waste - especially if it's from a Morning Glory Muffin.

These muffins are exceedingly moist and tender, and the crunch of the walnuts gives a delicious contrast to its cake-like texture.  Even better, with the combination of carrot, walnut, and raisins, Morning Glory Muffins are as close as you'll come to eating carrot cake for breakfast without eating the cake itself (although I do suspect these babies would be delicious with a dollop of cream cheese frosting).

My version of Morning Glory Muffins includes apple, carrot, coconut, raisins, and walnuts.  Feel free to omit or swap ingredients according to your taste.  Substituting part of the regular flour for whole wheat in the recipe would make a heartier version of this muffin.  I ended up replacing part of the oil for applesauce to make a slightly "healthier" a.k.a. less fatty muffin, since I knew I would end up scarfing them down.

 

Morning Glory Muffins (yields 12)

Adapted from Whole Foods

1 1/3 cup flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2/3 cup canola oil (I ended up using 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce, 1/3 cup canola oil)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 Fuji apple, cored, peeled, and diced

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup grated carrots

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dried, flaked coconut

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix together flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.  Break up any lumps of brown sugar.

In another bowl, whisk together eggs, oil, and vanilla (and applesauce, if you're using it).  Stir into flour mixture until just combined.  Stir in apple, raisins, carrots, walnuts, and 1/4 cup of the coconut  until combined.

Spoon batter into a muffin tin lined that is lightly greased or lined with paper wrappers.  Each cup should be about 2/3 full.  Top with remaining coconut and bake for 25-30 minutes, until cooked through.