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Morning Glory Muffins are loaded with carrots, apples, coconut, raisins and nuts. Sweet and delicious – they are sure to become your new favorite muffin!
Years ago, I lived near a great little coffee shop in Danvers, Massachusetts called the Custom Cup Caffe. Every Friday on my way into work, one of my weekly rituals was to stop and treat myself to a cup of their terrific coffee, and one of their even-more-terrific Morning Glory Muffins.
A few years ago (long after I had moved away from Danvers), I found myself craving one of those moist, sweet, cinnamon Morning Glory Muffins – filled with carrots, raisins, nuts, and other yummy ingredients.
While searching around online for a recipe to try making at home, I learned that Morning Glory Muffins were originally created at the Morning Glory Café on Nantucket Island by chef and café owner Pam McKinstry. Her now-famous original recipe found here, was published in Gourmet magazine in 1981. Later, in 1991, it was chosen as one of the magazine’s twenty-five favorite recipes from the past fifty years. (I can totally see why!)
The version we’re sharing today was gently adapted from a different, highly-rated Morning Glory Muffin recipe found here. These hearty muffins are sweet and moist, with so many textures and flavors you’ll be licking your fingers to get every last crumb.
Why You’ll Love Morning Glory Muffins!
- All those flavors and textures. These moist, scrumptious muffins are loaded with shredded fruit, vegetables and nuts.
- They are hearty and filling. Enjoy these muffins for breakfast or as an afternoon snack after school.
- Sure to please even the pickiest eaters. We used to send one of these muffins with our daughter to daycare when she was little. She was the pickiest eater around and loved her Morning Glory Muffins!
Key Ingredients and Substitutions
- Fruit and Veggies – We use freshly grated and peeled apples and carrots along with raisins for this recipe. Some Morning Glory Muffin recipes include pineapple too – so feel free to add different fruits if you’d like.
- Nuts and Coconut – These add some texture and crunch to the muffins. We like to use walnuts, but just about any kind of nut would be delicious. We used sweetened flaked coconut, but unsweetened is fine too if you prefer a little less sweetness.
- Flaxseed – Packed with plant omega-3, antioxidants, and fiber, flaxseed adds more health benefits and a nutty flavor to these muffins. Feel free to leave it out.
Special supplies needed
- Muffin tin – This recipe yields a dozen standard-sized muffins, or 24 mini muffins.
- Muffin liners – We like using tulip paper liners like this to give our muffins a bakery-style look, but you can also put the batter right into the muffin tin. Just give your muffin pan a quick spray with non-stick cooking spray before filling with batter.
How Do I Make Morning Glory Muffins?
- Prep – You’ll peel and grate your carrots and apples, chop the nuts, measure out the other wet and dry ingredients, and line or grease your muffin tin. It’s always a good idea do to all this prep before you start to combine ingredients.
- Combine – Once everything is prepped, mix together all your dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, whisking to be sure everything is combined. Add the carrots, raisins, nuts, coconut, apples, and flaxseed – stirring to evenly combine. Then whisk eggs, oil, and vanilla together and pour that mixture into the flour and fruit mixture. Stir just enough to combine all of the ingredients, but don’t over mix the batter.
- Fill Your Tins – Now scoop the batter into each prepared tin – dividing the batter evenly among each muffin cavity. You can use a spoon or an ice cream scoop for this. We fill ours nearly to the brim because these muffins rise only a little during baking.
- Bake – These muffins bake for about 20 minutes and will fill your kitchen with amazing aromas! You’ll know they’re done when the centers are slightly soft, but a toothpick comes out clean.
Watch our video in the recipe card below to see exactly how we make Morning Glory Muffins!
These muffins are hearty enough to make a filling breakfast on their own, and sweet enough to complement a savory omelet. Pair with your favorite cup of coffee or morning tea, or a tall glass of milk.
Chef’s Tip
Use an ice cream or cookie scoop to portion the batter into your muffin tin. It’s easier than using a spoon.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Can I substitute gluten-free flour in this recipe? We haven’t tried making this recipe with gluten-free flour ourselves, but a one-for-one flour will likely work. (If you try it, let us know how it works out!)
- How should I store Morning Glory Muffins? Store in an airtight container unrefrigerated for a day or two. You can refrigerate them, but bring back to room temperature before eating, or zap them in the microwave for a few seconds to warm back up.
- Can I freeze these muffins? Yes! In fact, we used to bake up a batch of muffins and freeze them in a zipper seal bag, then we’d take one out of the bag each day to send with her lunch.
- Can I reduce the sugar in these muffins? As written, this muffin recipe turns out fairly sweet, so you can definitely reduce the sugar that is called for by ¼ cup (or more) and still achieve tasty results. We haven’t tried swapping in sugar substitutes ourselves, but if you try any, please let us know the results. (We’d love to know!)
This post was originally published in October, 2012. We’ve updated the post with new images and text.
You may enjoy these other muffin recipes:
- The Real Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins Recipe
- Sour Cream Coffee Cake Muffins
- Maple Streusel Muffins
- Spiced Apple Coconut Muffins
- Lemon Blueberry Zucchini Muffins
We love seeing what you made! Tag us on Instagram at @afamilyfeast or hashtag #afamilyfeast so we can see your creations!
Morning Glory Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups shredded carrots (3-4 medium carrots, peeled before shredding)
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup flaked coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup shredded apple (about 1 medium apple, cored and peeled before shredding)
- 1/4 cup flaxseed (optional)
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin cups with paper muffin liners (or grease a non-stick muffin pan).
- In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the carrots, raisins, chopped walnuts, coconut, shredded apple and flaxseed. Mix until well blended.
- In a separate smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and vanilla. Pour the egg mixture into the carrot/flour mixture and stir just until moistened.
- Scoop batter into prepared muffin cups. (Note that the muffin cups will be very full which is OK as these muffins rise only slightly during the baking process.)
- Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes. They will be done when the centers are still slightly soft but a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean.
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Marianne Hansen says
Muffins are my favourite thing and these were wonderful. I was out of flax but they still turned out great. Wouldn’t change a thing. I will be trying out some of your other muffin recipes as well!
Martha says
Thanks Marianne – So glad the recipe was a hit!
Sandy says
What a delightful muffin! So moist and flavorful. I didn’t have raisins, instead I made use of dried cranberries. A wonderful substitute! Absolutely a winner in my household❣️
Martha says
So glad you liked the muffins Sandy!
Mary Jane Davenport says
Delicious.
Martha says
Thanks Mary Jane – glad you liked the muffins!
Barbara M Barr Rodney says
Martha, these Morning Glory Muffins are delectable! They are so good I had to literally force myself to stop eating them! I really didn’t change to much. I soaked the raisins in a small amount of hot H2O to soften and added the little water right in the batter. I used ground Flax seed. Mine took about 22 minutes in gas oven. I actually got 18 full muffins out of the recipe. I’m glad for that as I was originally going to double the recipe but considering all the great ingredients (costly) I decided to “try out” the recipe 1st before doubling. Next time I will double the recipe. You can feel good about these as they are healthy too. Thank you for sharing this great recipe. It is a heirloom type!
Martha says
You’re very welcome Barbara! So glad you enjoyed the muffins!
Sue Fleming says
What a great recipe! I used leftover cooked carrots and it came out beautifully. Will definitely be one of my favorites!
Martha says
Thanks Sue – We’ve never tried using leftover cooked carrots – glad to know they work in this recipe!
Ronda says
Great recipe thanks so much I used pecan and almond instead of walnuts, moist sweetened coconut, shredded the carrot and apples fine , but no flax . I did have to bake for 35 min maybe because I live in Alberta
Martha says
Glad you enjoyed the muffins Ronda!
Nina says
Could you recommend a gluten free version of the Morning Glory muffin ? Please
Martha says
Hi Nina – I’m not really familiar with other recipes out there, but I suppose you could try swapping in a one-to-one gluten free flour? If you try it, please let us know how it works out!
Maureen says
Well. This is serendipity at its’ best.
I live in Danvers, MA and have been craving Custom Cup’s Morning Glory muffin for the longest (It’s Kaffmandu coffee shop now). I’ve studied Pinterest recipes, googled, Bing’d, and looked at recipe sites to try and find one that might be very similar. Because – it really is THE BEST muffin ever. I don’t even know how I ended up tripping over your blog, but thank God I did! I am heading into the kitchen now to whip up a batch! Thank you, thank you, thank you! (I’m also subscribing to your blog now, former neighbor!)
Can’t wait to have one with a cup of tea. ❤️
Martha says
Such a small world Maureen! 🙂 I hope our version is as good as you remember!
Rashmi says
These muffins were amazing. I follow the ingredients listed but prepared it in a different way. I mixed all the wet ingredients. Added into this carrot, apple, raisins and walnuts. Then mixed all the dry in a separate bowl and combined into the wet using little strokes to make sure I wasn’t over mixing. Thanks again for this wonderful recipe.
Martha says
Glad you enjoyed the muffins Rashmi!
Victoria J. Chandler says
Hi Martha…
These muffins look great. My question is I have about a 1/4 cup left over cranberry sauce. Where would I add it? And would I be substituting with something else? Do I add it in with the wet ingredients? Sorry I’m not much of a baker but would like to give these a go!! I also have trail mix and dried cranberry ( Hmmmm?).
Thanks
Victoria
Martha says
Hi Victoria – Without testing things out, I’m only guessing what adding cranberry sauce, trail mix and dried cranberries will do to the recipe without other adjustments. You could definitely swap out the raisins and use the same amount of dried cranberries. And since you want to use up the cranberry sauce, maybe cut back on the carrots or apple a bit. (The muffins are fairly sweet as written so I don’t think you’d need to add any more sugar to offset the tartness.) The trail mix is the big question mark for me – it could make the muffins dense and more dry if it soaks up some of the moisture in the muffin – depending what is in your trail mix. I’d probably skip that and just go with the cranberry swaps. Hope that helps!