Morning Glory Muffins

(from 226-2tone’s recipe box)

Makes 12 muffins

Don’t throw away the juice from the can of pineapple; you’ll need it. To toast the coconut and walnuts, place them in a dry skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, until they’re golden, about 5 minutes. Cool before grinding them. We prefer golden raisins here, but ordinary raisins will work, too.

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
All of the versions of Morning Glory Muffins we tasted were greasy and full of fat. We cut the amount of fat in the original recipe by half, which fixed the problem. We also switched from oil to butter, which vastly improved the flavor. The apple and pineapple added tons of moisture to the muffins, which made them gummy and wet. We strained the fruits and pressed out the juice to take care of the problem.

Without the fruit juice, our muffins lacked their trademark fruity flavor. We reduced some of the extruded juice on the stovetop and added the syrupy liquid back into the batter to insert flavor without introducing too much moisture.

Source: Cook's Country April​/May 2011 (from RecipeThing user Bethany)

Categories: Breads, Sandwiches, and Pizza

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
  • 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple
  • 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and shredded
  • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded carrots (2-3 medium)
  • 1 cup golden raisins

Directions

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12-cup muffin tin. Process coconut and walnuts in food processor until finely ground. Add flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt and pulse until combined. Transfer mixture to large bowl.

  2. Place pineapple and shredded apple in fine-mesh strainer set over liquid measuring cup. Press fruit dry (juice should measure about 1 cup). Bring juice to boil in large skillet over medium-high heat and cook until reduced to ¼ cup, about 5 minutes. Let cool slightly. Whisk melted butter, cooled juice, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Stir wet mixture into dry mixture until combined. Stir in pineapple-apple mixture, carrots, and raisins.

  3. Divide batter evenly among muffin cups. Bake until toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out clean, 24 to 28 minutes. Cool in tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack. Serve warm. (Muffins can be stored in airtight container for 3 days.)

  4. SECRETS TO MORNING GLORY MUFFINS: Many of the recipes we tested produced muffins that were wet and overloaded. Three steps proved key as we worked to simplify the flavor and repair the texture. 1. PROCESS We toasted the coconut and walnuts to heighten their flavor, then ground them up to avoid soggy, stringy coconut and mealy nuts. 2. PRESS The juicy apple and pineapple made the muffins soggy. We pressed the juice out of the fruit and only then stirred the fruit into the batter. 3. CONCENTRATE Finally, we reduced the fruit juices on the stovetop (down from 1 cup to 1/4 cup) before stirring them, too, into the batter.

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