Hearty Vegan Morning Glory Breakfast Muffins

September 30, 2023

2

These are the most effective vegan morning glory muffins! They’re hearty and stuffed with texture, full of crushed and grated fruit, carrots, floor flaxseed, nuts, and shredded coconut. The muffins present healthful fat, complicated carbs, and fiber on your day by day nourishment, and so they’re an excellent make-ahead breakfast possibility for busy weeks.

A white platter has been lined with golden brown, vegan morning glory muffins.

Once I was in school, the campus cafe nearest to my dorm room bought plump, nutty, raisin-studded muffins referred to as morning glory muffins.

I bear in mind ordering one early in my first semester and considering that I’d by no means eaten a muffin prefer it.

Many of the muffins that I knew and beloved had been on the candy aspect. They had been chocolate chip muffins, crumb muffins, double chocolate muffins, and lemon poppyseed muffins. All scrumptious, however not predominantly healthful.

Morning glory muffins had been each hearty and healthful. But they had been candy and tender as effectively, a deal with to eat with my cup of espresso earlier than class.

I’d by no means heard of a morning glory muffin earlier than. For some time, I assumed that these muffins had been distinctive to the little cafe outpost that bought them at my college.

I might later study that these muffins weren’t some hyper-locale specialty. In truth, they’ve a fairly devoted fan base (me included).

Regardless of the ups and downs of my relationship with meals in these school years, the muffins remained a gradual supply of enjoyment for me.

I’ve glad reminiscences of consuming them whereas perched outdoors someplace on campus, watching different college students come and go, between pocket book scribbles in courses, and as I watched the solar rise from my dorm room.

After many iterations, I’ve lastly created a vegan morning glory muffin that rivals the muffins that I bear in mind.

What are morning glory muffins?

In case you’ve by no means had the pleasure of assembly one in every of these muffins earlier than, you’re in for a deal with.

Google “morning glory muffin,” and also you’ll discover a wide range of recipes. Some name for pineapple, others apple; some characteristic grated carrots and a few don’t; some have coconut, some raisins, some each.

You’ll collect from any recipe you peruse that these muffins are supposed to be healthful.

So healthful, in actual fact, that I’ve seen them described as “a hippie well being meals retailer muffin if there ever was one.”

If meaning a complete lot of fiber in a single sturdy little muffin, then sure.

The unique morning glory muffin was created in 1978 by a chef named Pam McKinstry. On the time, she was the proprietor of a Nantucket eatery referred to as the Morning Glory Cafe.

The cafe went on to shut in 1994. However McKinstry’s muffins had at that time earned a nationwide following. A reader reached out to Connoisseur journal requesting the recipe, and it was printed in 1981.

By 1991, the muffins had been chosen as one of many journal’s twenty-five hottest recipes from the final fifty years.

The unique muffin recipe consists of coconut, carrots, apples, raisins, nuts, and pineapple chunks. It additionally accommodates quite a bit—a complete tablespoon!—of cinnamon.

My vegan recipe cuts again on the cinnamon and lets you select between applesauce or crushed pineapple. I want the style of the latter, because it’s a extra distinctive ingredient in baking. However house cooks usually tend to have applesauce of their pantries. Both will work.

Talking of which, let’s undergo the muffin components, one-by-one.

Vegan morning glory muffin components

It’s uncommon that I create a muffin recipe with a lot nutrient-dense goodness in a single place! Right here’s a listing of what you’ll want.

All-purpose flour

My flour of alternative for these muffins—and most of my vegan muffin recipes—is unbleached, all-purpose flour.

Years in the past, after I was nonetheless writing for Food52, I made a morning glory muffin recipe that used entire grain flour.

I’m consistently re-testing and reiterating recipes, and what I’ve discovered over time is that even entire wheat pastry flour makes these muffins a bit too dense. They’ve already bought a variety of weighty mix-ins; entire wheat flour simply makes them denser.

All-purpose flour provides the muffins some lightness and fluffiness to counterbalance the entire candy, moist components inside.

Floor flaxseed

I’m not of the thoughts that egg wants changing in each vegan recipe; typically I skip an egg replacer.

In different recipes, a flax egg—AKA a tablespoon of floor flaxseed and three tablespoons of water, allowed to thicken up—might be useful for binding. And that’s true on this recipe.

Flax seed additionally provides fiber and healthful, Omega-3 fatty acids to the muffins.

Crushed pineapple or applesauce

That is the fruit part of the recipe.

I take advantage of applesauce on a regular basis in baking, so pineapple is a very enjoyable departure for me. It additionally pairs effectively with the shredded coconut within the muffins.

In case you don’t have a can of crushed pineapple at house, nonetheless, applesauce will even work effectively within the recipe.

In case you don’t occur to have both fruit, you can used mashed, ripe banana as a substitute.

Grated carrots

It’s all the time a win when a nutritious veggie can sneak gracefully right into a breakfast muffin.

Carrots, together with the apple or pineapple, add pure sweetness to the recipe. In addition they add colour, texture, fiber, and the antioxidant beta-carotene.

No carrots at house? Grated zucchini will even work—the muffins will simply have a much less orange colour and be ever so barely much less candy.

Grated apple

There could already be applesauce within the muffins, however grated apple simply creates extra goodness: extra moisture, texture, fiber, and sweetness.

In case you don’t have an apple useful, grated pear can be a pleasant various.

Brown sugar

Talking of sweetness, there’s additionally some brown sugar current in these muffins.

I wish to bake with mild brown sugar, however darkish brown sugar can be wonderful. In case you want to make use of coconut sugar, that’s additionally an excellent possibility; it has a stunning, virtually burnt sugar taste.

Raisins

I do know that raisins might be controversial—I’m all the time shocked by what number of of us don’t look after them—however I like them.

Raisins add good, juicy, chewy pockets to muffins and fast breads. I take advantage of them in my applesauce spice cake, my chewy vegan oatmeal raisin cookies, and in plenty of different baked items.

The raisins will add juiciness and (you guessed it) extra texture to your vegan morning glory muffins.

Walnuts

Walnuts add a touch of nutty taste and a few crunchy texture to the muffins.

I like baking with walnuts as a result of they’re an particularly nutrient-dense nut.

Walnuts are an excellent supply of Omega-3 fatty acids. They’re additionally particularly wealthy in antioxidants, together with Vitamin E and numerous polyphenols—which are related to cardioprotective results.

In case you’re allergic to walnuts, don’t have them, or don’t look after them, you should utilize chopped pecans, almonds, or cashews as a substitute.

You can too commerce chopped nuts for seeds, or you possibly can omit the nuts altogether.

Coconut

In case you’ve learn my weblog for some time, then you might recall that coconut is just not one in every of my favourite flavors. In consequence, I are typically conservative with it in my recipes.

Even so, there’s a time and a spot for grated coconut and its mildly candy, distinctive notes. Morning glory muffins are such a spot.

In truth, I feel that the coconut is admittedly what units these muffins aside; with out it, they’re not so totally different from my carrot raisin muffins or apple bran muffins.

There’s not a variety of grated coconut it within the muffins, however what’s there’s essential from a taste perspective. Make sure you use unsweetened, grated coconut, reasonably than the sweetened sort.

Spices

Who else is prepared for the scent of cinnamon and ginger filling the house as one thing scrumptious and candy bakes within the oven?

I positive am. Such aromas are one in every of my favourite issues in regards to the fall.

The spices in these muffins are cinnamon and ginger. In case you’d like so as to add a pinch of cardamom, allspice, or cloves, go for it.

Apple cider vinegar

Particularly, I have a tendency to make use of selfmade vegan buttermilk in my recipes to make the muffins rise. The acid within the buttermilk places baking powder and baking soda to work, activating their chemical leavening properties.

So many elements add moisture to the vegan morning glory muffins that buttermilk isn’t needed.

Acid, although, remains to be essential for the muffins to rise. So there’s a bit of apple cider vinegar included within the recipe.

Avocado oil

Generally I take advantage of melted vegan butter in my muffin recipes.

Once I need a completely impartial taste, nonetheless, avocado oil is my fats of alternative.

For these muffins, I don’t need buttery taste to compete with the coconut taste or any of the muffin’s different scrumptious elements, so avocado oil it’s.

Rather than avocado oil, you should utilize canola oil, grapeseed oil, safflower oil, or a mild-tasting olive oil.

Can the muffins be made gluten-free?

Sure, the muffins can undoubtedly be made gluten-free.

I don’t advocate a single sort of gluten-free flour—for instance, solely oat flour, solely almond flour, or solely chickpea flour—within the muffins.

A gluten-free, all-purpose flour mix, nonetheless, works effectively on this recipe. My favourite is the King Arthur Measure for Measure flour.

Learn how to make vegan morning glory muffins

Step 1: Prep your mix-ins

There are a variety of mix-ins for morning glory muffins: apples, carrots, nuts, and many others. Making ready them is definitely probably the most time-consuming step on this recipe, I feel.

So: grate your carrots and apple, chop the walnuts, and create a mis-en-place with the whole lot else.

When you’re at it, you possibly can preheat the oven and line a muffin pan with liners.

From there, making the muffins is straightforward.

Step 2: Put together your flax egg

In a small bowl, combine the bottom flax seed and three tablespoons of heat water. That is the flax “egg” that may assist to bind the muffins and provides them construction.

Enable the combination to thicken whilst you proceed with the recipe.

Step 3: Whisk collectively your dry components

You’ll need a comparatively massive mixing bowl for this step. The muffins produce a beneficiant quantity of batter, and that is the blending bowl it would all find yourself in.

Make a effectively within the middle of the dry components whenever you’re executed.

Step 4: Combine the moist components

In a separate bowl, you’ll combine the oil, applesauce or pineapple, sugar, and vinegar (or lemon juice) collectively.

The moist components will probably be added to that effectively within the dry components, together with the flax “egg.”

A large mixing bowl holds whisked flour, with a liquid mixture poured into the center. The white mixing bowl rests on a white surface. — Add your moist components to the middle of the bowl together with your whisked, dry components.

You’ll fold the moist components into the dry components till you will have an evenly blended batter. The batter will seem very thick, and that’s OK. The apple and carrot that you just’re about so as to add will make the batter looser.

Step 5: Add the the mix-ins to the batter

Now it’s time to fold in all of these mix-ins that you just’ve ready. Do that with a spatula and a few elbow grease, till the mix-ins are evenly distributed within the batter.

A white mixing bowl is filled with grated carrot, apple, coconut, raisins, and a batter underneath them all. — Your batter will seem fairly thick till you add grated carrot and apple—alongside together with your raisins, coconut, and walnuts.

Step 6: Bake

Switch the batter by the heaping half cup to your ready muffin pan. Don’t overfill every of the wells within the muffin pan—in the event you do, your muffins could have bother rising.

Switch the muffin pan to the oven and bake the muffins for 25-Half-hour. You’re aiming for the muffins to have a domed, agency high and a good, golden colour.

A white tray is lined with golden brown muffins in muffin liners. — You need to use a toothpick to test the muffins for doneness, however what I search for is a gently domed high and a golden brown colour.

Step 7: Cool and revel in (or retailer)

Cool the muffins for about 20 minutes earlier than breaking them open and having fun with their beautiful, candy, coconutty scent and healthful texture.

A round, white plate holds a hearty vegan morning glory muffin, which has been broken open to reveal a soft interior. — The inside of your muffins will probably be moist, tender, and studded with nuts, fruit, and carrots.

Meal prep and storage

These muffins are an excellent possibility for nutritious weekly meal prep. They’ll maintain in an hermetic container at room temperature for as much as 3 days and might be frozen for as much as 8 weeks.

The Vegan Week

Embrace the enjoyment of consuming selfmade meals day-after-day with the hearty and healthful recipes in The Vegan Week.

Whether or not you will have three, two, and even only one hour of time to spare, The Vegan Week will present you easy methods to batch prepare dinner diverse, colourful, and comforting dishes over the weekend.

I’ve labeled the muffins “breakfast muffins,” and sure, I feel they’re an excellent possibility for vegan meal prep breakfasts. Greater than with different muffins, I wish to take pleasure in them as I greet the day.

However after all, you possibly can benefit from the muffins at different instances of day. They make an excellent snack, and due to all of their fiber, they’re a snack with some endurance.

Fall muffin insanity

Among the many many issues I like about fall, it’s baking season. And baking season means muffins, plenty of them, as a result of I’m a giant vegan muffin fan.

In case you’re a fan, too, listed below are another muffin recipes to encourage you:

And listed below are the morning glory muffins that I fell in love with years in the past and have been tinkering round with in my kitchen ever since.