There's nothing quite like a deliciously sweet, but hearty muffin to wake you up in the morning. These delicious muffins burst with flavor at every bite. Fresh carrot and apple give way to the warming spice of cinnamon, bursts of sweetness from the raisins, and a fleeting feeling of tropical bliss from the sweet crunchy coconut on top. Quick to make, they are an ideal bake for a lazy weekend morning, and perfect to enjoy with a cup of freshly brewed tea or coffee and the morning newspaper before the rest of the house has woken up.
Much like the name of this recipe, I first made these muffins very early in the morning one day, when I woke up at six thirty, and the house was still completely quiet. This may not seem unusual to most, but in a house with a three year old and an eighteen month old, this is not a common occurrence. I crept downstairs for a bit of alone time, ready to just have a cup of tea and read the paper, in the full knowledge that it would probably be less than five minutes before someone cried out for me from upstairs.
However, on getting downstairs, my energy suddenly took hold of me and I decided why not bake. Sure it felt like a fools errand... would I even measure out the flour before being called off to my other responsibilities? Still, I forged on in the blind hope I could do something for myself. Only the day before I had been told I was working too hard on a litany of projects and I needed to practice some self-care. So I quickly scanned the NYT food app, and came across Morning Glory Muffins. I saw that I had about two thirds of the required ingredients and could make substitutes for the rest, and thus this recipe was born. I also decided to rename these to Morning Sunrise Muffins, as Morning Glory has somewhat dodgy connotations in the UK (or so my mother tells me)!
These muffins are so delicious. Bursting with natural flavors from the carrot and apple, balanced by a healthy dose of cinnamon. These muffins will keep family members coming back for more. The juicy raisins burst in your mouth as you taste a bite, flooding your palate with a delicious moreish sweetness, that is perfect with a cup of freshly brewed tea or coffee.
Recipe Recommendations
This muffin is a quick and easy recipe to make. But I'm all about making baking as easy and care free as possible so you can truly enjoy the process, and most importantly the end product.
My advice therefore is to make the only hard part of this recipe (shredding the carrots and apples) as easy as possible by using a food processor with a grating attachment. This shreds the carrots and apples in seconds, not even minutes. It may yield a bit of extra cleaning, but as the ingredients are not sticky, even the cleaning up of the processor is a doddle.
I also want to recommend the muffin cases that I used. I bought them from Daiso, and they cost me only $1.75 for a pack of eight. This was my first time using these muffin liners, but they were fantastic and I will be running straight back out to restock. These muffin liners not only give a finished look to the muffin, perfect if you are giving these away to friends or serving at a party, but they also hold their own without needing the structure of a muffin tin. Simply throw these onto a sheet pan and bake away. But by far, my favorite feature is the tear option for unwrapping the muffins. Simply pull down at the tear and then unfurl, the entire wrapper comes off without tearing the muffin at all, making it super easy to enjoy without any mess. Give them a try!
Substitutes and Adaptions For Healthier Muffins
A recipe is just a guide, and many people are fearful of not sticking to the letter especially when it comes to baking recipes. I will agree that baking recipes call for some careful substitutions, in that you should be mindful of substituting with equal volumes, and be careful to think about the levels of moisture in the recipe, as this can affect the final outcome. However, with a little thought, most people can make a success of substituting ingredients. Furthermore it can be a really fun and satisfying part of the process to put your own stamp on something. Why not substitute raisins for cranberries? Or put some other spices into the recipe? It's yours for corrupting!
The two most common reasons I see for substituting by analyzing the recipe comments are either lack of ingredients on hand (this is what my recipe was born out), or a desire to be more health conscious. When people think of a morning glory muffin, they think often about it teeming with healthy carrot, sharp apple and juicy raisins and forget about the other ingredients required to make a muffin. At the end of the day, a muffin is still a cake, and contains other ingredients that aren't so virtuous. If you are like me, this may not bother you in the slightest, as one sweet treat among an otherwise healthy diet is my measure of balance. However, I do understand that many people are looking to eat healthier in every aspect of their diet. I'm therefore making the following recommendations for substitutes to yield a healthier end product for those who want it.
My first recommendation would be to reduce the sugar. This recipe has a full cup of light brown sugar in it, and is on the sweeter side. You can reduce this by up to half and still have a delicious sweet treat. This substitute is as much about diet as it is personal taste.
You can also substitute the flour in this recipe. You can try wholewheat, or even a blend of your favorite flours.
Raisins also contain sugar, so you can reduce the raisins a little, but I wouldn't recommend removing entirely.
Finally, you can increase the amount of carrot and apple. However, be aware that both of these ingredients impart liquid to the recipe, so you may need to adjust with a few extra tablespoons of flour if the batter becomes too wet.
Comments