Morning Glory Muffin 朝顔マフィン

This is by far one of the most complicated muffins, we’ve made in terms of the number of ingredients included (see #1 in the composit picture below). This appears to be a muffin traditionally served for Easter.  My wife found this particular recipe in the Washington Post when she was looking for something special to serve for Easter but didn’t get around to making it until just recently. Besides carrots, it includes raisins, canned pineapple, coconut and walnuts. This is very tender and flavorful muffin but the pineapple and coconut didn’t particularly stand out.  Probably we could have eliminated them and not noticed the difference.

Ingredients (made 17 muffins)
1/2 cup canola oil or another neutrally flavored oil, or more for the pan as needed
1/3 cup raisins
3/4 cup walnut pieces
1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1 3/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (may substitute 1 cup regular whole-wheat flour plus 3/4 cup all-purpose flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
8 ounces canned crushed pineapple with juice (1 cup)
2 medium carrots, peeled and shredded (1 cup)
1/2 cup peeled, shredded green/tart apple
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Brush the wells of a regular muffin pan with oil, or use paper baking cup liners. Toast the walnuts and coconut until they are fragrant and lightly browned. Let cool.

Whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ginger in a medium bowl. Whisk together the oil, brown sugar and eggs in a separate mixing bowl until creamy and well combined. Then whisk in the pineapple and its juice. Then stir in the carrot, apple, vanilla extract and the toasted coconut and walnuts. Add the flour mixture, stirring just until it is incorporated, to form a batter. Stir in the raisins and mix until evenly distributed.

Divide the batter evenly into the muffin cups (#2). Bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean (#3). Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool.

These muffins were very moist and the flavor was complex but nothing stood out individually. As with most complex baked goods these got better with time as the flavors melded together. They are an elegant way to celebrate breakfast. We can see why this is an Easter favorite.