When my daughter and I did a Girl’s Weekend Out on Orcas Island, the bed & breakfast we were at served yummy Morning Glory Muffins. Click here and you can find their recipe and my post about the Blue Heron Bed & Breakfast. I decided I wanted to change the recipe a bit making it gluten free and a bit healthier.
I love apples so I added not only applesauce but big chunks of juicy, tart apples. I also wanted to make it gluten free as I had developed issues with gluten a couple of years ago. I’m not a huge fan of shredded coconut (I think it is a texture thing) but, I found fine macaroon coconut that was just the ticket! It is sweetened with honey and just a tinge of brown sugar, plus all the yumminess from the apples, carrots, raisins, and cranberries. The medley of spices (cinnamon, cardamon, ginger – both fresh and ground) gives the tongue just the right tingle!
Before you start grating and mixing, you need to take the three beaten eggs, vanilla, cranberries and raisins and let them soak together. This will plump up the cranberries and raisins causing them to burst with flavor when bitten into.
I know this recipe is a little time consuming with all the ingredients and special preparation, but it will be well worth it! I started by measuring and getting all my ingredients “ready!”
I started with the spices and brown sugar adding those to the gluten free flour in the bowl.
I combined these well and added the coarsely chopped walnuts.
The dry mixture was done and I was ready to blend all the wet ingredients together. I put these in another bowl while I stirred all the fruit, melted coconut oil, applesauce and any remaining “wet” ingredients together.
Now I had a dry mixture and a wet mixture! I bet you can’t guess the next step!
You’re right! You are going to mix them both together. The batter will be on the thicker side. Remember, it’s packed with all those healthy fruits and veggies!
Put a big ice cream scoop full of batter into greased or paper-lined muffin tins. Then the hard part comes – waiting 15 minutes for them to cook!
Patience! Once done, let them sit and cool for a couple of minutes. Then remove from the muffin tin and let cool on a cooling rack. Now their ready to place onto a serving plate.
Can you see how moist and yummy they look? Notice the big chunks of apples and the other goodies.
Pour yourself a tall glass of orange juice and take a bite of awesome Morning Glory Muffins (good enough for anytime of the day)!
- 3 large eggs
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup melted coconut oil
- 1/3 cup applesauce
- 2/3 cup orange juice (not orange drink)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup dried cranberries
- 2 cups shredded carrots
- 1 large cooking apple
- 2 T grated fresh ginger
- 2 cups gluten-free flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cardamon
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried orange peel
- 1/3 cup ground flax
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, beat the 3 eggs until blended. Add the raisins, cranberries, vanilla extract and combine. Set this bowl aside for the raisins and cranberries to soak and plump.
- In a medium bowl, add the dry ingredients. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, cardamon, salt and brown sugar. Add the chopped walnuts.
- Grate the carrots. Peel and core the apple and then cut it into large chunks. Place the carrots and apple chunks in another medium mixing bowl. Pour in the applesauce, orange juice, honey, and melted coconut oil. Peel the skin from the fresh ginger and grate until there is 2 tablespoons. Add this to the bowl. Pour in the egg, raisin, cranberry, vanilla mixture and combine well. Set the wet ingredients aside.
- Now take the two bowls (dry ingredients and wet ingredients) and stir together until just combined.
- Using a large ice cream scoop or spoon, fill greased muffin cups or paper-lined muffin cups 3/4 full. Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes until firm and golden on top. Take out of oven and let cool for 2-3 minutes. Then remove from muffin tin and place on cooling rack.
- Store in an airtight container when cooled.
- These muffins are packed with lots of healthy ingredients. They are a little bit of extra work, but so worth the effort! I like to save about 5 in an airtight container and then freeze the rest. All muffins tend to dry out quickly so if you aren't going to eat them in one or two days, freeze the rest until ready to eat.
