Super-soft inside and loaded with all kinds of healthy goodness, these classic morning glory muffins are the best way to wake up!
Hi, my name is Sarah and I am not a morning person.
What kind of person am I? I’m a muffin person. Completely.
A sneakily-healthy morning glory kinda-muffin person. Normally, I’m the kinda gal that will lean more towards the chocolate-on-chocolate-on-chocolate variety of muffins, but other times? I want a muffin that will make me actually feel good about eating it.
Sidenote: Chocolate can NEVER make you feel bad, especially if it’s in skinny muffin form, but you get what I mean…
The title of these muffins doesn’t lie. I guarantee every morning will be GLORIOUS if these muffins are involved.
Along with those three cups of coffee, of course…..
I mean, of COURSE! Healthy muffins call for gallons of the caffeine to go with it.
Today’s muffin madness is part of the Monthly Ingredient Challenge I participate in along with a ton of other talented bloggers. The ingredient theme for this month was apples and yep, there’s apples in these gorgeous muffins.
Along with about 1.5 billion other amazing things. I’m clearly just one of those people who CANNOT refrain from throwing all of the above into my muffin batter.
Best problem ever. My taste-testers agree.
Or at least they did, until I forced one too many morning-glory flops upon their tastebuds….They don’t trust that this is actually the GOOD stuff now.
That’s fine with me. 😀
Really though, the words “best-ever” just do NOT disappoint as far as these muffins are concerned. Guys, I’ve had many less-than-appetizing morning glory muffins throughout my life and searching for the perfect recipe wasn’t really a cake walk. (or a muffin walk either…ha.)
Much time later…..I can say without a doubt, that I have found THEEE ultimate morning glory muffin. This recipe is gold, peeps. GOLD!
They almost look like gold too, if you just use your imagination a little bit. 😉
What makes these muffins so perfect? They are so dang soft inside for one thing. I just absolutely cannot stand a dry muffin, and these muffins are the exact opposite of dry. So moist and so soft I could use them as a pillow.
I’d probably end up eating that pillow and then wouldn’t have anything to sleep on, but whatever…
The flavors. They’re top-notch, they really, REALLY are! Morning glory par-ad-ise. We’ve got tons of pineapple flavor, lots of shredded carrot and apple, cinnamon, toasty nuts and shredded coconut, and…(don’t gag) raisins. Because I’m a raisin-lover and all you raisin-haters out there CANNOT be all hateful towards them. It would break my heart.
You can totally leave the raisins out if you must, but really? I could not imagine a morning glory muffin without them.
Read: Don’t do it. Again, it would break my raisin-lovin’ heart.
As of lately, I could not imagine my mornings without these glorious morning-glory wonders…
Freezer = Stocked with 2 dozen.
Kitchen counter = Loaded with two containers.
Sarah’s belly = Full of morning-glory perfection.
The fam? I think they have just about had enough of anything with the words “morning” and “glory” in it, but that’s okay—No sharing required for this girl!
Like I would have anyway…
I am by no means a morning person, but I am 100% convinced that these muffins alone could convert me to one.
Here’s to mornings being FOREVER glorious. ♥
Best-Ever Morning Glory Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 cup crushed pineapple in juice
- 3/4 cup coconut sugar or brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 medium apple cored and shredded
- 1-1/2 cups shredded carrots
- 1 cup raisins optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.
- Place pineapple in a strainer over a bowl and let juice drain out of pineapple. Reserve juice and place in a saucepan. (you should have about 1/2 cup) Bring to a boil over medium heat, then reduce heat to low and let simmer until juice is reduced to 1/4 cup, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a large bowl, whisk sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla, drained crushed pineapple, and warm reduced pineapple juice. Set aside.
- Place coconut and walnuts in a food processor and pulse several times until mixture is finely chopped. Pour into a large bowl and whisk in flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Gently fold flour mixture into liquid, stirring until just combined. Fold in shredded apple, carrots, and raisins if using.
- Fill muffin cups to the brim with batter and gently smooth tops. Bake muffins at 425F 5 minutes then reduce heat o 375F and continue baking an additional 14-15 minutes or until a toothpick tests done. Cool muffins 5 minutes in pan, then transfer to a wire cooling rack. Enjoy them warm!
Notes
Be sure to check out the other apple-themed recipes for this month!
More morning-glory wonders from around the web!
Morning Glory Whole Wheat Pancakes — Food Faith Fitness
Blueberry Morning Glory Baked Oatmeal — Flavor The Moments
Morning Glory Scones — A Cedar Spoon
Jess @ Flying on Jess Fuel says
Mmmm…. these look perfect!! And I love raisins, so I don’t know who all these raisin haters are, but… they don’t know what they’re missing!
Sarah says
Exactly!! Raisin-haters are missing out on a whoooole lot of awesomeness. 😀
mira says
I love experimenting with muffin recipes and these look so delicious! Loaded with wonderful ingredients, I’ll definitely try them!
Sarah says
Thank you, Mira! Let me know what you think of these muffins!
Jessica @ Sweet Menu says
I love muffins! How gorgeous are these. Love the addition of pineapple!
Sarah says
Thanks so much Jessica!!
Ashley | The Recipe Rebel says
Haha, every once in a while it’s good not to be a chocolate-on-chocolate-on-chocolate person! Not that I know from experience or anything… 😀 Love the pineapple and coconut and carrots and EVerything you’ve got going on in here!
Sarah says
Haha right?! Glad I’m not the only one. LOL. Thanks Ashley!!
Kathy @ Beyond the Chicken Coop says
I love muffins…and even better when they are loaded with healthy ingredients. Just gives me an excuse to eat a few more! These look truly tasty!
Sarah says
Thanks so much Kathy! You can totally have a few of these muffins with ZERO guilt. 🙂
Lindi says
I’m not a morning person either, but these may be able to convince me! Looks delicious 🙂
Sarah says
Thank you Lindi!!
Heidi says
Well hello fellow-not-morning-person! These might be JUST the treats I need for my extremely-early-bird-son… I usually leave little snacks for him when he wakes up anything from 5am! {I prepare it the night before}
Glorious indeed! x
Sarah says
Let me know if you make these muffins, Heidi! I guarantee you will love them.
Amber @ Dessert Now, Dinner Later! says
Loving all the flavors in these muffins! YUMMY!
Sarah says
Thanks, girl!
marcie says
Morning Glory muffins are one of my favorites, and these look so perfect, Sarah! Now I’m really craving some, so I gotta make them happen soon!
Sarah says
If you love MG muffins you will adore these, Marcie! You’ve gotta try ’em. 🙂
Becky says
Made these this morning and MM MMMM they are everything you said they are! Thanks for the great recipe.
My only substitutions were strawberries and strawberry juice for the pineapple and no raisins – I have nothing against them just what I had on hand 😉
Sarah says
Happy to hear that you loved these muffins, Becky! Love the sound of using strawberries in these! 🙂
Victoria says
Morning Glory are my absolute favorite & that is saying alot as I am a muffin lover! Question though… does it really take a tablespoon of baking powder?
Oh & I added the zest of 1 orange, along with some sunflower & pumpkin seeds. (I only added 1 teaspoon of baking powder & they seem to have turned out ok).
Sarah says
Hi Victoria! Yes, 1 tablespoon is the correct amount because it helps these muffins rise really nicely. Glad to hear that these turned out great for you and I love the sound of orange zest and seeds addition! 🙂
Joyce says
I do not have whole wheat flour in, can I use white, and how much. Thank you.
Sarah says
Hi Joyce! Yes, you can use white flour, however you may need to reduce the amount of flour called for a little bit since white flour is a bit of a finer texture than wheat.
Joyce says
I figured that, but by how much?
Sarah says
I would reduce the flour down to 1-1/2 cups. 🙂 Just make sure the batter is smooth and spoon-able.
Joyce says
Thank you very much. I am sorry my last guestion sounded so saucy. The muffins look very good, I just wanted to make them this morning. Thanks again.
Sarah says
Not a problem at all! You are totally all good. 🙂 I do hope you enjoy these muffins and feel free to ask if you have any more questions!
Mary kay says
Any idea on the calorie count per muffin ?
Sarah says
I am unsure of the exact nutrition info for this recipe, however, you can easily find out using this website!
Terese says
Can I substitute almond flour and how much would it be if possible?
Sarah says
Due to the vastly different texture of almond flour, I would not recommend subbing almond flour in this particular recipe. 🙂
Margie says
I wanted to make some of these for my dad as he has no idea about glorious morning muffins but likes blueberry so I wanted him to try these. I don’t have any walnuts but wondered if I could use some roasted almonds instead. Would that be weird?
Sarah says
Roasted almonds would be fine! I would suggest cutting them into smaller pieces before adding them to the batter. 🙂
Laurie says
May I substitute white flour for the whole wheat? I am out of ww flour. But I can wait another day to make if the flavor will suffer.
Sarah says
Hi Laurie! You can definitely sub white for the whole wheat, but the texture may be a little less hearty.
m.schultz says
Nice muffins …I added 2 tbsp bran and 2 tbsp flax to up the fibre
My muffin cups must be smaller…the yield was 16 muffins.
Couldn’t find the nutritional value??
Is it there and I missed it??
I did a rough calc and came up with about 140 cal /muffin
Thanks for the recipe.
Sarah says
Hi there. There is currently no nutrition information for this recipe but I’ll work on getting that updated into the recipe! 🙂
Mary Anne says
These actually ARE the best-ever morning glory muffins. Everyone loves them. I don’t bother boiling the pineapple juice. Somethings I substitute the 2 c wheat flour with 2-1/2 c oat flour, and the 3/4 c sugar with 1/2 c honey. Terrific either way.
Sarah says
I’m so happy to hear that, Mary Anne! Thanks so much for reporting back with your substitutions. 🙂