Morning Glory Muffins
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Morning glory muffins are wholesome, delicious, and true to their name—a glorious way to start the day!
Morning glory muffins are brimming with wholesome goodness. Made with whole wheat flour, carrots, apples, raisins, walnuts, orange juice, coconut, and wheat germ, they were created decades ago by Chef Pam McKinstry for her Morning Glory Café on Nantucket Island. These muffins are a throwback to the 1970s “back-to-the-land” era, when wholesome hippie foods were all the rage. True to their name, they’re a glorious way to kick-start your day—a feel-good, homemade treat.
If you love the cozy flavors of carrots, raisins, and warm spices, you might also enjoy my classic carrot cake—it shares many of the same ingredients but in a more decadent dessert form. For more muffin inspiration, try my blueberry muffins or banana muffins—both are simple favorites that bake up beautifully.
“I’ve been making this recipe for a few years now and it never disappoints! The muffins are moist and delicious. I usually double the recipe and keep some in freezer so we always have them on hand!”
What You’ll Need To Make Morning Glory Muffins
- Raisins, carrots, apple, walnuts & coconut: This mix gives the muffins their signature balance of sweetness, moisture, and a subtle tropical note, with just the right amount of crunch from the nuts.
- White Whole Wheat Flour, brown sugar, wheat germ, and baking soda: This combination forms the dry base. The flour provides structure (I like King Arthur), the sugar adds depth with its hint of molasses, the wheat germ lends a subtle nuttiness and extra nutrition, and baking soda leavens the muffins.
- Eggs, oil, orange juice & vanilla extract: These wet ingredients bind the batter, add sweetness, and keep the muffins tender. The orange juice adds brightness, and the vanilla rounds out the flavor.
- Cinnamon & ginger: These spices add cozy warmth and just enough zing to balance the fruit and nuts.
- Jump to the printable recipe for precise measurements
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1. Soak the raisins. Place them in hot water to soften and plump.
Pro Tip: If you’d like to experiment, try soaking the raisins in hot tea (like Earl Grey or chamomile) instead of plain water for a subtle flavor twist.
Step 2. Prep the produce. Grate the carrots and apple (a food processor makes quick work of this, but a box grater works just as well). If making your own orange juice, juice the orange now.
Pro Tip: If you’re using a box grater, grate the carrots first—it’ll keep the apple from sitting too long and getting watery.
Step 3. Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Use your fingers to break up any brown sugar lumps.
Pro Tip: Like regular whole wheat, white whole wheat flour is 100% whole grain—the difference comes from the lighter-colored wheat it’s milled from. It has the same nutrition but a milder flavor and color. If you can’t find it, use regular whole wheat flour, or go half whole wheat and half all-purpose for lighter muffins.
Step 4. Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, orange juice, and vanilla extract.
Step 5. Combine everything. Add the wet mixture to the flour mixture, then stir in the apple, carrots, wheat germ, walnuts, coconut, and drained raisins. Mix until evenly moistened; the batter will be very thick.
Step 6. Bake. Divide the batter into the wells of a greased 12-cup muffin pan. The wells will be very full. Bake in a 375°F oven for about 25 minutes, until nicely domed.
Pro Tip: If you have an ice cream scoop, that works well to fill the muffin pan.
Step 7. Cool and serve. Let muffins cool in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. The muffins keep nicely for several days; freeze for longer storage.
Morning Glory Muffins Mix-and-Match Swaps
These muffins are super flexible—here are a few easy substitutions to make them your own. Just be mindful of maintaining the overall moisture and texture of the batter when making substitutions:
- Wheat germ: Swap with wheat bran, ground flaxseed, or even finely ground oats.
- Raisins: Use dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, or just leave them out.
- Coconut: Skip it, or replace with extra shredded carrots or apples for moisture.
- Walnuts: Try chopped pecans, almonds, or hazelnuts—or omit altogether.
My starting point for this recipe was the Morning Glory Muffins on the King Arthur Flour. I found their version to be a bit bland, so I increased the spices, raisins, walnuts, and sugar.
More Healthy Breakfast Recipes to Try
Morning Glory Muffins
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup raisins
- 2 cups King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, or Whole Wheat Flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (packed) light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 large eggs
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- ¼ cup orange juice (if making your own, you'll need one orange)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups peeled and shredded carrots, from 4 to 5 large carrots
- 1 large tart apple, such as Granny Smith, peeled, cored and shredded
- ½ cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
- ⅔ cup chopped walnuts
- ⅓ cup wheat germ
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Grease a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water. Set them aside to soak.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt.
- Drain the raisins, squeezing out any excess water with your hands.
- In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, orange juice, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture, along with the drained raisins, carrots, apple, coconut, walnuts, and wheat germ. Mix until the batter is evenly moistened and combined.
- Divide the batter among the wells of the prepared pan. They will be very full.
- Bake the muffins for about 25 minutes, until they're nicely domed and a cake tester inserted in the center of one of the inner muffins comes out clean.
- Remove the muffins from the oven and let cool in the pan on a rack for about 5 minutes. Turn the muffins out onto the rack to cool completely. Cover and store at room temperature for several days.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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Two questions: Can I use 1/3 cup apple sauce and 1/3 cup oil instead of just all oil? Second, if I’m making them smaller how long would you bake for? Thinking of using a standard cupcake/muffin liner size. Also, would you keep it at 375’F? I’ve always baked muffins and cupcakes at 350′ so I’m just a bit worried about overcooking or burning them. I’m thinking of using a standard ice cream scoop (1/4 cup I think) to portion them evenly into the liners… Thanks!
Hi Tania, I’ve never tried them with applesauce, so I can’t say for sure. If you make them with that modification, please let me know how they turn out. If you’re thinking of using a mini muffin tin, a 1/4 cup of batter would work well, but I wouldn’t suggest using such a small amount of batter in a standard muffin tin. You can keep the temperature at 375 with the smaller muffins, but start checking them for doneness at about 12 minutes.
I have made many of your recipes but have never posted before. Am posting now because my husband said these are the best muffins he has ever tasted. Have to say I agree! I think it was worth the search to use unsweetened coconut — the level of sweetness was perfect, sweetened coconut would have been over the top for me. Thanks Jenn!
These are great! I used ground flax seeds instead of wheat germ, subbed splenda brown sugar and added a liiiittle bit of maple syrup – they turned out marvelous. Sweet enough for dessert but healthy enough for breakfast! Very pleased.
These are great for breakfast! I like to have a batch in the freezer and grab one on my way out the door.
I followed this recipient to the t but my muffins came out really hard. Could it be that I over mixed the batter?
Hi Jessica, Sorry your muffins came out hard. Did you use the spoon and level method to measure the flour?
I’ve done these muffins following the exact recipe except for nuts that I exchanged for pecans (question of taste!). These muffins are just the best! really delicious! ! I had some family over from France and the ladies all left with the recipe (translated the best I could because my English translation is not perfect! ) Thanks again from the entire family! One question though, my family asked me, why do North American people always calculate/need to know the % of fat in everything? I couldn’t answer them since I don’t pay attention to it. . I pay attention to the taste! ! 🙂
Can I replace the oil with applesauce?
Hi Kathleen, Unfortunately, I’m not sure how that would turn out; I’ve never tried it. Sorry!
Probably way too but I usually find you can sub out half of oil in lots of baking for apple sauce, but not all. I did that when I made these and they turned out great. Hope that helps!
I tried subbing half the oil with applesauce – these muffins are so moist they really don’t need all this oil. They were great!
What is your suggestion for time and temperature when baking frozen muffins?
Hi Jenny, here are some reheating tips that will help. Enjoy!
Hi! These are amazing, but I’m just wondering – is 18 grams of fat per muffin a typo? that seems like an awful lot for one muffin! Thanks for the recipe!!
Hi Maiya, Unfortunately, it’s not a typo 🙂
which level of oven is better for backing muffins?
thanks Jen!
Hi Nazanin, The middle is always best.
Do you have any idea how many grams of fat, sugar, and calories these delicious muffins have? Thanks
Hi Elizabeth, I just recently started adding nutritional data to my recipes, and am still going back through my archives to update older recipes. Just added it to this one for you; you’ll find it underneath the recipe.