Morning Glory Muffins (Recipe)

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups finely shredded carrot

1 cup finely chopped apple

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/2 cup shredded coconut

3 eggs

3/4 cup cooking oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.  Lightly grease eighteen 2 1/2-inch muffin cups or line them with paper bake cups.

2. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.  Stir in the carrot, apple, raisins, nuts and coconut.

3. In a separate bowl, stir together the eggs, cooking oil and vanilla.  Add the liquid ingredients all at once to the flour mixture and stir just until moistened.

4. Gently spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups until each one is almost full.

5. Bake in the 350° oven about 30 minutes or until the top of a muffin springs back when lightly touched.  Cool in the pan set on a wire rack for 5 minutes.  Remove the muffins from the pan and cool on the rack.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Tips:

The fastest way to get two cups of shredded carrot is to use a food processor fitted with a shredding blade.  Follow the directions that came with your machine.  The finer the shred, the more readily the carrot will become part of the batter.

This batter is naturally lumpy due to all of the extra ingredients.  When adding the liquid ingredients to the flour mixture, do not overmix or your muffins will have peaked tops and tough, heavy texture.