Morning Glory Oat Muffins

I really like breakfast. Why it’s so overlooked, I’ll never know. If I had to a pick one type of food to eat every day for the rest of my days, it would be breakfast. There’s so much variety! And it’s all so tasty! Bacon, biscuits, and gravy, pancakes, waffles and syrup, cereal and milk, fruit and pastries galore. What’s not to love? Lately, I’ve been all about homemade granola with milk or yogurt (specifically maple and cinnamon granola, which I will have to post about soon because it’s so good!) and muffins. Oh, Muffins.





What’s so great about them that it’s basically cake for breakfast, and really, who wouldn’t want that? My favorites are these everything but the kitchen sink morning glory oat muffins. With this recipe, I’ve tried to make it a bit healthier than your average muffin, using whole wheat flour, oats, cutting down the sugar and relying on the natural sugars of the fruits to sweeten them up. These are chock-full of tasty things and totally keep you going until lunch. I’ve used pecans here, but walnuts would be really good (but I’m allergic!), also you can mix up the dried fruit, using whatever is your favorite. A little tip: these get much better with time, so just let them sit for a couple of hours before trying them out, or even better, make them the night before!



Morning Glory Oat Muffins

1/2 cup raisins

1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups carrots, peeled and grated

1 large apple, peeled, cored, and grated

1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/3 cup wheat germ, optional

3 large eggs

2/3 cup unsweetened apple sauce

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup orange juice
demerara sugar, for topping

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or line it with papers and spray the insides of the papers. 

In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water, and set them aside to soak while you assemble the rest of the recipe.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the carrots, apple, coconut, nuts, and wheat germ, if using. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, applesauce, vanilla, and orange juice. Add to the flour mixture, and stir until evenly moistened. Drain the raisins and stir them in. Divide the batter among the wells of the prepared pan, filling almost to top. Sprinkle with demerara sugar.



Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, until domed and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes in their pan on a rack, then turn out of pans to finish cooling.