Whole Wheat Morning Glory Muffins

Breakfast can be tough to manage for us regular humans. Five out of seven days each week most of us are rushing out the door, rubbing sleepies from our eyes, and trailing coats, scarves and phone chargers. But that's no excuse for missing the most important meal of the day! A healthful breakfast will jump start our metabolism and give us energy throughout the morning, helping us avoid reaching for coffee or sugar at 9 or 10am.


Who doesn't love a delicious breakfast muffin? But those Dunkin' drive-throughs are dangerous - find lots of sugar and preservatives in their treats. 


Try this Make-Ahead Breakfast Solution. These morning glory muffins are great toasted with butter, or nut (almond or peanut) butter. Freeze half your batch to last longer. I modified the Whole Foods recipe by substituting the sugar and brown sugar with honey (read more about the benefits of honey over refined sugar here). 


Whole Wheat Morning Glory Muffins

1 1/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour 
1/2 cup of honey 
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
2 eggs 
2/3 cup canola oil 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1 Fuji apple, cored, peeled and diced 
1/2 cup seedless raisins 
1/2 cup grated carrots 
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped 
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons dried flaked unsweetened coconut, divided 

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, mix together flour, honey, baking soda, cinnamon and salt, eggs, oil and vanilla, then add to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Add apples, raisins, carrots, walnuts and 1/4 cup of the coconut and stir gently until well combined. 

Spoon batter into 16 paper-lined muffin tins, filling each about 2/3 full. Top evenly with remaining 4 teaspoons coconut and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until cooked through.