Healthy Morning Glory Muffins

If your kids love muffins as much as ours do, you might be looking for something beyond the usual blueberry or bran. We have just the thing! It’s a muffin you may not have tried before, called a Morning Glory Muffin. And it tastes just as sweet and sunny as the name implies.

So, what IS a Morning Glory Muffin? It’s a whole grain muffin full of seeds, veggies, and fruit. The story of its origins is kind of fun: it was created in the Morning Glory Cafe in Nantucket in the 1970s, and became known as a kind of hippie muffin, because it’s full of so many earthy-crunchy bits and pieces.

The flavor is fantastic: sweet and surprising in every bite, and spiced with cinnamon and ginger, almost like a carrot cake (for breakfast! YES.)

Nutritionally, we love these muffins because they’re packed with fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. Look at all SEVEN of these plant-powered add-ins:

Carrots

Raisins

Orange juice

Sunflower seeds

Coconut

Walnuts

Apples

What Makes These Muffins Healthier

When we started playing with the recipe for these classic muffins, we knew we wanted to make some healthy changes.

First, we cut the amount of sweetener down by more than half. The muffins were still delightfully sweet! (Pro tip: this works in SO many muffin recipes. They don’t need to be as sweet as cake.)

We also used honey in place of the sugar, and whole wheat flour instead of white flour, for extra fiber and vitamins. Finally, we cut back on the oil, and used virgin coconut oil, to complement the flavor of the dried coconut.

The end result is a sweet, moist, gently spiced muffin chock full of chewy-crunchy textures. Such a comforting, healthy breakfast for kids and grownups alike!

How to Make Healthy Morning Glory Muffins

Ready to bake? Let’s do this!

Don’t be intimidated by the long list of ingredients in the recipe. These muffins are easy to make, and you’ll get a good 17 muffins per batch. so you can throw a few in the freezer for school lunches or snacks.

First, stir together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then mix in the carrots, apples, nuts, and seeds, until they’re all coated with the dry ingredients. You’ll get a funny-looking mixture like this:

Whisk the wet ingredients together in a separate bowl, then pour them into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients:

Then fold in the raisins, and spoon the batter into your muffin pan. Here’s a hack for fitting all the muffins into the oven in one round: squeeze a few extra muffin liners in beside the main muffin pan.

Finally, bake for 20 minutes, until firm to the touch. Enjoy!

How to Store Morning Glory Muffins

Some muffins stay fresh best in the refrigerator, but these muffins actually taste even better after a day out on the kitchen counter. Let them cool completely, then transfer them to a bowl or platter and cover it with plastic wrap.

Keep them at room temperature for a day or two, then transfer any leftover muffins to the fridge or freezer for longer term storage.

More Popular Muffin Recipes

• Sweet Spinach Muffins
• Power Packed Fruit and Veggie Muffins
• Healthy Chunky Monkey Muffins
• Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins