Hellobee

Back with my muffin love before baby comes! I’ll be posting soon about how we are prepping for baby #2 foodwise soon, but for now, these muffins are stocked in my freezer.

I’m a big big fan of nonnutritive breakfast food – give me Belgian waffles and French toast all day every day. Unfortunately, I really can’t eat like that; I feel sluggish and like my stomach is in knots, not to mention guilty for not eating anything besides simple carbs doused in syrup. With one child I felt like I needed to up my nutrition game, with two it’s a necessity to get through the day. These morning glory muffins are full of whole grains, carrots and fruit. Bonus! My increasingly picky 3-year-old likes them!

Morning Glory Muffins

adapted from the brown eyed baker

• ¼ cup sweetened shredded coconut
• ¼ cup walnuts/pecans/almonds/dealers choice
• 1 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¾ teaspoon salt
• 12 oz can crushed pineapple
• 1 Granny Smith apple
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 cup raisins, golden or regular
• 3 eggs
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup softened cream cheese
• 2 Tbls. powdered sugar
• milk

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Toast the coconut and nuts for about 7 minutes, until the coconut browns. Place the coconut and nuts in a food processor and pulse until finely ground. Mix the coconut and nuts into the flours, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

Drain the pineapple and reserve the juice, squeezing to remove the moisture. Peel and shred the apple on a box grater. Squeeze any juices out and mix with the pineapple juice. Shred the carrots on the same box grater and squeeze out the moisture, mixing the juices into the pineapple and apple. Mix the shredded fruit, coconut and raisins into the flour mixture.

Heat the juices over medium until reduced to about 1/3 cup. Add the butter to the warm juice and mix. Whisk the eggs and vanilla into the juice and mix into the flour until the batter just comes together.

Spray your muffin tin with nonstick spray and load up your muffin tins, these muffins don’t rise too much so fill them to almost full. Bake for 25 minutes.

While muffins are baking, combine the cream cheese and powdered sugar together. Add milk to the cream cheese until it forms a pourable glaze. Lightly glaze the muffins.  This isn’t so much about the muffins having frosting as it is about adding another layer of flavor. If freezing, be sure to freeze the muffins individually first before placing in a bag or else they will all stick together. Enjoy your new favorite grab and go breakfast!