Morning glory breakfast muffins: a recipe

Morning glory breakfast muffins (damn you, white balance!)

Breakfast is hard.

I feel that I say this to you at least once a week, but it's true. And I wouldn't want to let you down by not saying it, ha ha ha.

It's challenging to come up with a variety of healthy, grab-and-go recipes. I usually fall into a rut. To wit: you don't even want to know how many ham-and-cheese-on-a-100-calorie-thin-bun breakfast paninis we've eaten since I got a panini press.

Seriously, you don't want to know. Suffice it to say that we're in danger of hating ham and cheese.

Breakfast muffins are a good idea but too many of them wind up basically being cake. And I for one don't like a lot of sweetness in my breakfast.

Therefore, the "morning glory" muffin is right up my alley: all the excellentness of being make-ahead but still being jam-packed with healthy ingredients.

This recipe was inspired by Dorie Greenspan's carrot spice muffin recipe in Baking: From My Home to Yours. I lightened it quite a bit because hey, it's breakfast, folks, not cake.

Moreover, as with many of the recipes I share with you, feel free to modify the mix-ins: I used raisins, craisins and walnuts (oh my!) but any combo of dried fruits and nuts would work. And how about substituting shredded zucchini for the carrots? Good idea.

I wound up getting 18 good-sized muffins out of this recipe. They are great on their own but also yummy reheated just a touch in the microwave and spread with a little butter.

Oooh! I bet topping them with some marmalade would also be delicious.

Morning glorious, even.

Morning Glory Breakfast Muffins (inspired by Dorie Greenspan)

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
canola oil (see directions for amount)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs
3/4 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup shredded carrots (about 2 large)
1 cup any combination of dried fruit and nuts (I used golden raisins, craisins and walnuts)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and prepare 2 muffin tins.

In a large bowl, whisk together the first seven ingredients (through the salt). Mix in the brown sugar (flatten the clumps); set aside.

In a one-cup glass measuring cup, add half a cup of applesauce (yes, I know it's not liquid). Fill the cup to the 2/3 mark with canola oil. Add this mixture to a small bowl and whisk in the eggs, milk and vanilla, as well. Add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir to blend. Stir in the carrots, fruits and nuts and fill muffin tins.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.