Wholesome Cinnamon Breakfast Muffins

Cinnamon breakfast muffins (Morning Glory Muffins)

4.91 from 50 votes

Wholesome Cinnamon Breakfast Muffins

Recipe video above. Wholesome but don't taste like cardboard, I love them! A variant of the popular Morning Glory muffins, they're just sweet enough to be a morning tea treat yet healthy enough to be considered breakfast with only 12 grams of sugar per muffin. Soft moist crumb inside, they stay fresh for 5 days and freeze perfectly!

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine: Western

Keyword: Breakfast Muffins, morning glory muffins

Servings:

Calories: 358cal

Author: Nagi

Ingredients

Add ins (Note 1 for alternatives):

3/4 cup walnuts (or other nuts)
2 cups (lightly packed) shredded carrot , 2 - 3 carrots (use a box grater, I don't peel)
1 1/4 cups (lightly packed) shredded Granny Smith apple, including juices (1 apple, keep skin on)
1/2 cup desiccated coconut (finely shredded, unsweetened)
3/4 cup raisins (or sultanas, apricots or other dried fruit)

Dry ingredients:

2 cups wholemeal flour / wholewheat flour (or plain/all-purpose flour)
1 3/4 tsp baking soda (bi-carbonate soda) (Note 2)
2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 tsp ground ginger (not critical, Note 3)
1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt

Wet ingredients:

3/4 cup brown sugar (tightly packed cup)
3 large eggs , at room temperature (~50g/2 oz each)
2/3 cup olive oil (not extra virgin), or canola oil, liquid coconut oil (Note 4)
1/4 cup orange juice (sub any fruit juice or milk, Note 5)

Cups - Metric

Instructions

Abbreviated recipe:

Toast walnuts 190°C/375°F (170°C fan) 8 minutes. Cool, roughly chop. Whisk dry, whisk wet in separate bowl. Add wet into dry with add-ins, mix, fill oil-sprayed muffin tin. Bake 25 minutes.

Full recipe:

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F (170°C fan-forced).
Toast walnuts - Put the walnuts on a tray and toast for 8 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes on the tray then roughly chop into 5mm / 0.2" pieces.
Spray a 12 hole standard muffin tin with oil, or line with muffin cases.
Batter - Whisk the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Whisk the wet ingredients until combined in a separate bowl. Pour the wet ingredients and all the add-ins into the Dry Ingredients bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon just until you can no longer see flour, then stop mixing (over-mixed batter = tough muffs!).
Divide the mixture between the holes - they will mound above the rim! (See photos in post). A lever ice cream scoop is super useful here. And don't worry, they won't overflow, they rise and dome.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Cool for 5 minutes in the muffin tin, then transfer onto a cooling rack and cool for at least another 5 minutes before grabbing on. Slathering with softened salted butter is encouraged!

Notes

1. Add-in alternatives:

Nuts and fruit - use what you want! Almonds, macadamias, cashews, pecans, sultanas, apricots, mango, apple, or dried fruit mix. Chop large piece fruits. Use only nuts or only fruit, or nut free options like pepitas and sunflower seeds.
Apple - Red apple is also fine, it's just a little sweeter. Keep skin on for free nutrition.
Coconut - Can be omitted, add an extra 1 tablespoon flour.
Carrot - Recommend sticking with carrot for the vegetable so the batter and flavour isn't altered too much. eg zucchini too watery, parsnip weird flavour, pumpkin and sweet potato too mushy.

2. Baking soda - Can substitute with 5 1/4 tsp baking powder but muffin is a touch less soft inside and touch paler on the surface. Not a big difference.

3. Ginger is an extra so not essential. Substitute with all spice, pumpkin spice or similar, or just leave it out.

4. Oil - Any neutral flavoured oil is fine here. Butter and non-liquid coconut oil (ie the type you have to melt) will work but the muffins are a bit less moist inside, and coconut oil will make them taste more coconut-y unless you use a virgin one (same with liquid coconut oils).

5. Orange juice isn't critical, the batter just needed a touch of extra liquid and I chose this to be on-theme. Just any fruit juice you have, or substitute with milk.

Storage - 5 days in the fridge or in a cool pantry, but always eat at room temperature or slightly warmed!

Source - Adapted from Helen Goh's Morning Glory Breakfast Loaf as published in Good Food Australia.

Nutrition per muffin.

Nutrition