Morning glory muffins get their name because they are chock full of so much goodness—nuts, fruit, carrots, and spices. These aren’t those healthy tasting muffins you might be thinking of though. Find out why this carrot muffin recipe is one to add to your healthy breakfast ideas. Don’t miss the method below for making the fig muffin recipe vegan (and adding even more fiber).
Start with Small Batch
Unlike many morning glory muffins that make a baker’s dozen, we opted to scale down the recipe, making it ideal for solo home cooks or smaller households.
Ingredients Spotlight
When you slice into one of the muffins, you’ll find a crumb loaded with so many textures and flavors, but we think the one that matters is most might just be the sweetest. Figs added just the right level of sweetness and satisfying texture. For this carrot muffin recipe, we suggest using our Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid California Golden Dried Figs for the delicate nutty sweetness they impart to the spiced muffin. If you prefer that familiar fig flavor that is more robust, you can swap in our Mission Dried Figs. Either way you slice it, the figs add extra fiber, potassium, and are an anti-inflammatory ingredient.
Morning Glory, Lightened Up
What makes morning glory muffins so delicious—carrots, pineapple, apple, can also make for heavy, sodden muffins, so we aimed to lighten them up. Our first move was to strain the fruit and press out the extra juice to prevent our muffins from being soggy. To keep the bright, fruity flavor intact, we saved the fruit juice, reduced it on the stovetop, and added the concentrated syrup back to the batter.
Crunch on This
To keep the nuts and coconut from becoming mealy or soggy in the finished muffins, we toasted and processed them. What this yields is a bit of that toasty flavor better dispersed throughout the muffins.
At last, our muffins were truly glorious. Any muffin tin with standard-size cups will work here, and the batter can be placed in any of the cups.
Make It Vegan
Make the recipe below vegan by swapping in vegan butter and a flax egg in place of the egg. To make a flax egg, pulse the flaxseed to meal. Whisk 3 tablespoons of water into 1 tablespoon of flaxseed meal. Set aside to set for about 15 minutes until it gels.
Morning Glory Muffins with Figs
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup canned crushed pineapple
- 1 small Granny Smith apple , peeled and shredded
- 1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut , toasted
- 1/4 cup walnuts , toasted
- 3/4 cup (3 3/4 oz) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz) sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted and cooled
- 1 large egg , room temperature
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup shredded carrot (1 carrot)
- 1/3 cup Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid Mission Dried Figs , stemmed and cut into 1/4-inch pieces
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 4 cups of a muffin tin with baking spray with flour. Place pineapple and shredded apple in fine-mesh strainer set over liquid measuring cup. Press fruit dry, reserving juice; juice should measure about 1/3 cup. Bring juice to boil in 8-inch skillet over medium-high heat and cook until reduced to 2 tablespoons, 3 to 5 minutes; let cool slightly.
- Process coconut and walnuts in food processor until finely ground, about 15 seconds. Add flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and process until combined, about 5 seconds; transfer to medium bowl.
- In separate bowl, whisk cooled juice, melted butter, egg, and vanilla together until smooth. Gently fold juice mixture into flour mixture with rubber spatula until just combined, then fold in drained pineapple-apple mixture, carrot, and figs.
- Using dry measuring cup or ice cream scoop, divide batter evenly among prepared muffin cups. Bake until muffins are golden brown and toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean, 24 to 28 minutes, rotating muffin tin halfway through baking.
- Let muffins cool in muffin tin on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove muffins from muffin tin and let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
