Morning Glory Muffins
Sunday’s are great days for baking. Lately, I’ve been tinkering with a lower fat, reduced sugar recipe for muffins. I’ve come up with two – a deep chocolate chunk flavor that tastes more like a cupcake than a muffin, and a rich Morning Glory muffin that’s studded with ginger, cranberries and coconut.
Mixing up a batch of muffins on a Sunday morning or afternoon is time well spent in my house, because the rest of the mornings during the week are busy, and these are a very satisfying breakfast on the run. Since they’re high in fiber because they’re made with whole oats, they keep you feeling fuller longer than a muffin made with refined flour and sugar.
If you prefer raisins, golden raisins, dried cherries or other dried fruit to the cranberries, feel free to make the substitution. This recipe calls for Stevia, which is sold at our store. I do NOT recommend substituting Splenda in this recipe because it imparts a strong aftertaste.
These muffins freeze incredibly well, and remain moist. I freeze them in small sandwich bags and take them out as I need them, ensuring that they stay fresh. Enjoy!
Morning Glory Muffins
- 3/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour
- 3/4 c. all purpose flour
- 1/2 c. Quaker oats
- 3/4 c. Stevia
- 3/4 c. granulated sugar
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. Kosher salt
- 1 Tb. ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp. ground ginger
- 2 c. shredded carrots
- 1/2 c. unsweetened apple butter
- 1 egg
- 2 egg whites
- 1 Tb. vanilla extract (pure)
- 1/4 c. canola oil
- 1/2 c. crushed pineapple (drained of excess juice)
- 1/2 c. unsweetened chipped coconut (I use Bob’s Red Mill)
- 1/2 c. dried cranberries
- 6 pieces crystallized ginger, chopped
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Combine the dry ingredients and then add the carrots.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the wet ingredients and then pour into the dry ingredients. Mix to combine, be careful to avoid over-mixing, which would make the muffins dense.
- Stir in the coconut, cranberries and crystallized ginger.
- Scoop into greased muffin tins. This recipe makes 18 standard sized muffins.
- Bake at 375 for 15 – 17 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the muffin pans. Remove them, cool, then wrap and freeze.
Note: Folks on Weight Watchers – this muffin recipe is 3 points. Enjoy!
