High Altitude Morning Glory Muffins

I love these Morning Glory Muffins big time. They’re just sweet enough to qualify as an indulgent breakfast but they’re loaded with fruits, veggies, nuts, and seeds to make them hearty and filling without being too heavy!

We made it to the holiday break! Who’s doing the happy dance with me? No one wants do dance alone but I will if I must. Because let me tell you- I’VE BEEN WORKING MY BUTT OFF THE LAST WEEK AND THIS MAMA IS READY TO RELAX!!!! I cooked ALL the food and dropped it at the appropriate clients house. It was no easy task. Have you ever cooked food for 30 people for 10 days? Um, it’s a lot of food.

Like a lot.

I turned down a handful of jobs and only took two this holiday break. Mostly because they were both drop-offs. Meaning I do all the prep and the bulk of the cooking and then drop the food off at my clients house. They simply have to reheat or finish cooking off the food. I like this because even though it’s a crazy push to get it all done, once I drop the food off, I’m done too. I like being able to spend the majority of the break with my kids. I worked over the holidays for too many years and try to avoid it if I can!

One client has another family joining them for part of the break and the other client has 3 other families joining them for the entire break. Cooking 4 or 5 meals for 8 isn’t so tough. Cooking 10 days worth of food for 19 people? Whoa. Combining the two? Double whoa. I feel like I’ve been in my kitchen for a week straight! Oh wait. I have.

But enough about that because I’m DONE! And, I was smart enough to double up a lot of the food so now my meals are prepped for the next week which is exactly how I like it. For the next 10 days I will be doing the bare minimum in the kitchen and spending all the extra time skiing with my family and laying on the couch binge watching my latest show obsession. Have you heard of Acorn TV? It’s like the British version of Netflix and it’s amazing. I’ve watched 4 1/2 seasons of THIS and you can bet your butts I will finish the last 1 1/2 seasons before the year is over! That’s my goal anyway.

Snowboarding + TV = Merry Christmas to me!

I think I made close to 100 muffins last week. 24 of which were these delicious High Altitude Morning Glory Muffins. I love a good muffin but tend not to eat them for breakfast. They don’t fill me up and I’m always hungry soon after. Is that what empty carbs means?:) But these morning glory muffins stick to the ribs- in a good way- I promise! Loaded with grated carrots and apples, shredded coconut, walnuts, sunflower seeds, and raisins, these are a total power food!

They happen to taste amazing too. They freeze beautifully and reheat well. I like mine slightly warm with a smear of butter (duh) and sometimes even a smear of peanut butter. I’ll often grab one of these and a satsuma- I can’t get enough of the sweet baby oranges right now- and eat them in my car on the way to the mountain. I stay full for a few hours and it’s enough to fuel a morning on the slopes. Win, win!!

Have a wonderful holiday break and thanks for reading! xo, Kelley

photos by Kellie Hatcher/ recipe by Mountain Mama Cooks

High Altitude Morning Glory Muffins

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5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 4 reviews

• Author: Kelley

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Description

A hearty muffin recipe loaded with nuts, seeds, fruit, and veggies!

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Ingredients

• 1/2 cup raisins
• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups peeled and grated carrots
• 1 large apple, cored and grated
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/3 cup sunflower seeds, optional
• 3 large eggs
• 2/3 cup coconut oil
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup orange juice

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F degrees.
2. Lightly grease a standard 12-cup muffin tin, or line it with muffin liners.
3. In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water; set aside while you assemble the rest of the ingredients.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ground ginger, and salt. Stir in the carrots, apple, coconut, and walnuts; set aside.
5. In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, coconut oil, vanilla, and orange juice.  Add wet mixture to the flour mixture, and stir until evenly moistened taking care not to over mix. 
6. Drain the raisins and stir them in.
7. Divide the batter evenly among the 12 cups.  They’ll be pretty full- almost to the top but that’s ok! If using the sunflower seeds, sprinkle them evenly over the muffins. 
8. Bake the muffins for 22-25 minutes in preheated oven or until they’re nicely browned and a cake tester inserted in the center of one of the inner muffins comes out clean.
9. Remove from the oven, let cool for 5 minutes in their pan on a rack, then turn out of pans to finish cooling completely.
10. Store any leftover muffins in an airtight container and store at room temperature for 2-3 days on the counter. Otherwise the muffins freeze beautifully.

Notes

These have been modified for a high altitude kitchen. Enjoy!