Morning Glory Muffins

Somehow we don't have a recipe for these on the blog, and they're one of my favorites. Think of them as operation icebox muffins - that old apple way too soft to eat? Got a can of pinneaple around? Bam, you probably have what you need for these.

I'm also putting this online because the recipe I'm using is printed out and I'm afraid I'll lose it since it turns out fabulously every time.

The veggies/fruits in the recipe are subject to what you have and your whims. Personally, I think the pinneaple and coconut are essential to the recipe, and we like the raisins a lot. Otherwise, you can tinker - I've replaced the apple with ripe pear to great effect, I've added a peach, and you can play around further.

Ingredients

Dry

2 1/4 c. white flour (don't mess with whole wheat, these have plenty of fiber)

1 1/4 c. sugar (don't short this or they'll taste way too healthy. The fruit doesn't make them too sweet either)

2-3 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Wet

3/4 c. applesauce (two small applesauce containers works)

1/2 c. veggie oil

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

Fruit mix-ins

1 carrot, grated or blasted in food processor

1 apple, cored and as above, no need to peel

1 can crushed pinneaple, or diced pinneaple then blasted. I just throw in the juice too.

1/2 c. flaked coconut

1/2 c. raisins

1/2 c. chopped walnuts if you're into that sort of thing

Preparation

Mix dry ingredients, wet ingredients and fruit mix-ins separately. Combine wet and dry until just moistened. Mix-in (fold) fruit mix-ins. 

I tend to use muffin cups because it's cleaner, though sometimes a lot of muffin gets left on the wrapper, so you may want to grease the muffin pan directly. 

Normally this makes 12-16 muffins depending on how many fruit mix-ins you added and the size of your muffin pan.

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, or until a knife comes out mostly clean. They take longer than you expect since they're so moist.