Packed with all kinds of goodness, morning glory muffins are a favorite offering on the shelves of many local bakeries. The original recipe is hard to improve upon, so I’ve made just one important tweak: decreasing the amount of oil and replacing it with plain yogurt or applesauce. Similar to a delicious carrot cake, these muffins are a delicious and satisfying start to the day. You can store them for up to three days in an airtight container or in the freezer for about a month.
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat it to 350°F. Grease the cups of a standard muffin tin or line them with paper baking cups. In a large bowl, whisk the sugar, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the oil, yogurt, and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Fold the coconut, raisins, apple, pineapple, carrots, and walnuts into the batter until evenly distributed. Spoon the batter into the muffin cups, filling each to the brim. To make the topping, mix the sugar and wheat germ, then sprinkle some of the mixture onto the top of each muffin. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool the muffins in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a rack to finish cooling. Earthbound Farm’s culinary consultant, Chef Pam McKinstry, created these muffins in 1978 for her restaurant on Nantucket Island. The recipe was first published in Gourmet Magazine in 1981, and in 1991 it was chosen as one of the magazine’s 25 favorite recipes from the past 50 years.
morning glory muffins
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
5 Comments
Gina ZW
August 19, 2017 at 4:10 pmBaked a batch to take eclipse viewing! My batch made 20 muffins and a small loaf pan. Didn’t have nuts or raisins, added about 1/4 c. Of chia seeds to the mix. Great recipe!! Thanks Carol. Gina
Kurt Watkins
May 10, 2018 at 10:07 pmMy muffins broke coming out of the muffin pan. I did grease the pan before putting the batter in and I waited ten minutes after I pulled them out of the oven. I put a towel over the muffins and turned the pan upside down but they did not fall out so I used a silicone spatula to wedge them out. The result is 45% damaged but delicious still. Next batch I’ll use paper. A silicone muffin pan might be in my future too. Kurt
Carol Buchan
May 11, 2018 at 7:13 pmKurt,
You have me scratching my head. I usually spray a little oil in the tins and once they have cooled several minutes, I take a knife and run it about the edges and pop them out. Are you muffin tins older? The new ones have a coating that is better than the old tefflon. Perhaps I should add the tip to loosen with a knife first?
Kurt Watkins
May 12, 2018 at 5:54 amI tried a tiny bit of coconut oil around the top edge and used paper. They are in the oven now so they will be super fresh for us tomorrow morning. .
Oh, and other thing, I had not added the wheat germ to the recipe when I made it before, I had added it only to the topping so that may have left the muffin too delicate? This time I caught my mistake and added it.
Thanks for your ideas and the recipe
Carol Buchan
May 13, 2018 at 2:30 pmKurt, I believe the wheat germ is intended to be part of the topping and not added to the batter, so I’ve removed it from the ingredients list and it is listed under the topping heading only. I appreciate your willingness to continue testing these until you achieved perfection. You are well on your way to becoming an excellent baker.