Oh, these muffins.  Don’t ask me how many I just ate!  The recipe was given to me over a year ago from my friend Jackie and I don’t know why it took me so long to try them myself.  She was 41 weeks pregnant at the time and anxiously awaiting her home birth.  She waddled over (sorry, Jackie — we all have that “waddle” in the final month!!) to my house with a basket of these warm from the oven.  She was panting and out-of-breath when I opened the door and I gasped, “Is it time?!”  I thought she was having contractions!  So, I secretly call these Jackie’s Contraction Muffins.  She was just winded from her walk, but I think she did go into labor the next day.  These are wonderful, earthy, sweet muffins from my Earthy Mama friend — I’m so glad she shared these with me!  Note: you can substitute raisins for any dried fruit that you like.  I made half of the recipe and it made a ton – about 10 regular muffins and 17 mini muffins, which I baked for 21 minutes.  Enjoy!

Morning Glory Muffins

Recipe from my friend Jackie who found it in The Gourmet Cookbook.

Ingredients:

4 cups white flour

2 1/4 cups sugar

4 teaspoons baking soda

4 teaspoons cinnamon

2 teaspoons salt

12 carrots, peeled and grated

1 cup raisins (or other dried fruit like cherries or diced apricots)

1 cup unsweetened coconut (if you only have sweetened, just omit 1/4 cup of sugar)

1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

2 Granny Smith apples, grated

6 eggs

2 cups vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter muffin cups well.

Whisk together flour sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Stir in carrots, raisins, pecans, coconut and apples. In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs, oil and vanilla. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until just combined.

Spoon the batter into muffin cups, filling them to the top. Bake until muffins are springy to the touch, about 30 minutes (or 21 minutes for mini muffins). Cool in pans for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool to room temperature.