Morning Glory Indeed

Our girls love muffins. In fact, "muffin" was one of Addy's first words; I'm almost positive that she uttered "muh" even before "mama."

Because of the convenience, our staple muffin has been a refrigerator bran muffin that I throw cranberries, craisins or apples in right before baking. But today, we branched out and the verdict, at least right out of the oven: morning or afternoon it doesn't matter but yummy indeed.

Here's the recipe, straight the book. Have I mentioned that I have never made a recipe from this book that didn't become a family favorite?

Morning Glory Muffins
4 c. flour (I threw in a handful each of flax meal and wheat germ and used half whole wheat and half unbleached white.)
2 1/2 c. sugar
4 ts. baking soda
4 ts. cinnamon
2 ts. salt
12 carrots, peeled and grated (I used my food processor)
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and grated
1 c. chopped pecans 1 c. sweetened, flaked coconut 1 c. raisins (I substituted 3/4c craisins & 1/4c raisins)
6 large eggs
2 c. vegetable oil
2 ts. vanilla

Line muffin tin (or tins) with muffin liners or butter them. Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in large bowl. Stir in carrots, pecans, coconut, raisins and apples. Whisk together eggs, oil, and vanilla in another bowl, then add to flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling them to the top. Bake muffins, in batches if necessary, until springy to the touch, about 30 minutes per batch (Mine only took 22 minutes.) Cool in pans for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a rack and cool to warm or room temperature. Oh yes, the recipe says it makes 3 dozen but I came out with 46! Perfect for sharing...

We were making them to take to several other families so I stuck to the original recipe pretty closely, with the hope that they will be just as moist and delicious tomorrow as they were today.

Here are a few adjustments I'll make in the future to make them a bit more "healthy."

I'll probably use a combination of coconut oil, vegetable oil and applesauce to total the 2 c. of oil called for in the recipe. We'll play with it until we find a nice balance that still tastes fresh after a day or two and that freezes well.

They probably don't need as much sugar... so it depends on how generous I'm feeling the next time I make them! And you never know, I'm always prone to throwing in a cube or two of beet or sweet potato puree...

But, if you stick to the original recipe, you won't be disappointed. Need proof?