When I announced Ryan and I were moving to the Charlotte area in the summer of 2014, I put out a call for your restaurant recommendations and must-try local fare. Sunflour Baking Company came up again and again. When I asked what I should order at Sunflour, most people assured me I could not go wrong no matter what I selected whether it be one of their fresh cheddar biscuits and a savory brekfast sandwich or a Snickerdoodle cookie the size of my face and a creamy dirty chai latte. Now that we’ve lived in Charlotte for a few years and have popped into Sunflour more than a few times, I continually find myself drawn to Sunflour’s baked goods whenever I visit the local bakery and coffee hot spot.
If there is one item on the menu I would tell you is a must-try should you ever find yourself at the bakery’s Dilworth or Elizabeth Charlotte-area locations, it would be Sunflour’s Morning Glory muffin.
The muffin is incredibly soft and moist but full of texture thanks to the carrots and chopped walnuts. The flavor reminds me of the most delicious carrot cake… The kind that is so perfect that adding icing would only detract from the flavor (and that’s saying something since I’m usually Team Icing all the way in the icing vs. cake debate).
I reached out to Sunflour Baking Company a week or so ago to see if they would pass along the recipe and allow me to share it with all of you so those of you who do not live in Charlotte might be able to recreate this muffin at home. I figured my email would go unanswered so I was very pleasantly surprised when I received an almost immediate response from the bakery owner who had no problem at all with me sharing the recipe. How amazing, right!? Yet another reason I absolutely adore Sunflour Baking Company!
These Best Ever Morning Glory Muffins are worthy of a special breakfast or brunch. I think baking up a batch of the muffins to share with a loved one on their birthday or over the holidays would be a wonderful treat!
Best Ever Morning Glory Muffins
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 24 muffins 1x
- Category: breakfast, recipes
Description
Sunflour Baking Company is a Charlotte, North Carolina favorite known for incredible baked goods, including their drool-worthy Morning Glory Muffins. Packed with carrots, apple, pineapple, coconut, raisins and walnuts these Best Ever Morning Glory Muffins earn every last bite of their delicious name.
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 3/4 cup raisins
- 1 peeled apple, core removed,
- 1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
- 3 1/2 cups matchstick carrots
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- In a food processor, pulse apple until very small chunks remain. Pulse carrot until coarse. In a large bowl, combine apple, carrots, coconut, raisins, pineapple, walnuts, eggs, oil and vanilla.
- Sift together flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Fold in wet ingredients and stir until combined.
- Scoop into a muffin tin sprayed with cooking spray or lined with liners and sprinkle top of muffins with extra granulated sugar.
- Bake until toothpick comes out clean, approximately 22-25 minutes.
Notes
A few notes to make grocery shopping and baking this recipe a little easier:
- A 20-ounce can of crushed pineapple worked well for this recipe. I drained it and measured out a cup and didn’t have munch remaining.
- I bought a 10 ounce bag of matchstick carrots and used almost all of them. They’re kind of awkward to measure out, so if you have a food scale, 3 1/2 cups comes out to about 220 grams of matchstick carrots.
- Do not skip the additional sprinkle of granulated sugar on the tops of the muffins at the end. It’s my favorite part and adds a slight sugary crunch to top muffin tops that makes them so, so delicious.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Per Muffin
- Calories: 187 calories
- Sugar: 15g
- Sodium: 120mg
- Fat: 13g
- Carbohydrates: 20g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 2g
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-1e3-7hOJ_U8Bg.gif\")
I’m so glad they let you share this recipe! I’m excited to give it a go for our next celebration or get together!
I hope you love them if you decide to give them a try!
Use mashed banana (and/or maple syrup) to cut the white sugar and use whole wheat flour all or in part! Chia seeds, flax meal, various nuts, zucchini, spinach, ginger, pumpkin, chopped apple or applesauce! Olive oil or coconut oil or even avocado oil! I’m always looking for ways to replace or add healthy ingredients to increase the nutrients!
Those sound so delicious! That was so nice of them to give you the recipe too. I haven’t baked in forever, but need to make these asap!
That is seriously so awesome they responded and gave you the recipe! These sound so delicious, I would never think to put these ingredients together in a muffin. Can’t wait to try them, pinned for later 😉
Me neither! Honestly, as I was making them yesterday and following the recipe, I had my doubts as to whether or not they would turn out because there were so many fruits/veggies in the muffins compared to the amount of flour!
I just made it today, it’s still in the oven…but smells so good
Yay! And what a perfect day for the recipe! I was about to make banana muffins to freeze for on the go breakfasts (and toddler snacks hahaha) and i think ill add these to make as well. Did they taste the same? Thankful you shared them!
They did!! The only thing that was different is that the muffins at Sunflour are about two times the size of standard muffins!
these look awesome! william loves muffins, so these would be a fun way to switch it up!
Wow these look so great! I am definitely making these this weekend…I’ll try not to eat all 24 on my own 😀
No lie I ate four after I made them yesterday… They are a little TOO good!
Totally trying these soon! Carrot cake isn’t my favorite and these sound absolutely perfect! Thanks for sharing!
Hope you love them!!
That is so cool they shared the recipe! I pinned them to make later! I live in Durham so I’ll make sure to visit the bakery the next time we go to Charlotte!
As a small business owner myself, that is so incredibly nice of them to share the recipe! Since I live in Connecticut and unfortunately can’t try the bakery for myself in the near future, I’m definitely going to give these a try. I may try coconut oil instead of the vegetable oil and will see how they turn out!
How do you do the apple? Skin or no skin?m
No skin!
Thank you so much for sharing this! I just printed it off and am going to try them out this weekend. I’m usually not a big fan of a lot of the ingredients that are included, but somehow they all seem like they would go perfectly together.
Thank you for sharing! Morning Glory muffins are hands down my favorite, but I can never replicate the flavor and consistency when I try them at home. I can’t wait to give these a try!
These sound so good! I don’t think I’ve ever had a muffin with pineapple in it, but it looks like it would be delicious.
These look soo good! Thanks for posting! I’m trying to wean my fiance off of “Free breakfast Friday (aka pastries)” at work and wondering if I made these with whole wheat flour, and changed the sugar situation, if they would turn out? I’m not very domestic 😉
These look delicious and pretty healthy! Pretty cool they let you share the recipe!
Julie. Thanks for the recipe. Do you think the oil could be replaced with butter or part applesauce?
I think it could be! I didn’t want to mess with the recipe the bakery provided, but I have a feeling a lot of swaps can be made if necessary. I would probably try butter before applesauce, but it’s definitely worth a shot! Please report back on how they turn out if you make any substitutions!
I am going to make these to bring in for my office for National Nutrition Month! What a great recipe! Thanks!
Sounds like such a delicious recipe and I’m so glad you posted it, Julie (and Sunflour)! My husband loves pineapple, so I think I’ll make them for his birthday this weekend. Quick question: do you think whole wheat flour could be substituted for all-purpose? Obviously the taste would be a little different, but it seems like the muffins would be moist enough that whole wheat wouldn’t dry them out. Thanks 🙂
I actually REALLY want to try making them with whole wheat flour and coconut oil next time. I think whole wheat flour would work but I’ve read that when you sub whole wheat flour, you only need 3/4 cup for every cup of regular flour. These muffins are already very moist so I’m not sure that would be necessary, but it’s worth keeping in mind!
So I realize this is an old post BUT I tried this recipe today. I used white whole wheat flour and monk sugar and cut up a pineapple, pulsed in a processor and drained BUT my muffins were so runny and had NO rise. I was so sad because they smelled amazing. I ended up scooping them out of the muffin tin and eating them that way. BTW I have used white whole wheat flour before and I use a 1:1 sub and things always turn out well for me. Not sure what I did but I def want to try again.
These look amazing – I love the sound of the ingredients as well. x
Izzy |http://www.pinchofdelight.com
Did you hear about the new version of the BEST ICE CREAM FLAVOR ever? B&J added a new version of OATMEAL COOKIE CHUNK! I did try it and it isnt quite as good as the old one (though memory may have made it impossible to surpass) but still worth tracking down! http://www.benjerry.com/flavors/new-flavors
Life has torn me away from blogland, but i still recalled you were a fellow fan who wished it would come back. My own blog is almost solely books thesr days so do visit and peruse as you look for new additions for your new page!
Ohhhhh yes, I am so happy the recipe made it to your blog! These sound delicious. My boyfriend and I love carrot cake, and his birthday is next week, so I’ll have to whip these up for a special addition to breakfast!
http://www.poweredbysass.com
Oh my goodness these look amazing. Thanks to Sunflour for sharing and to you for relaying it to us! I can’t wait to make them!!
I cannot believe they gave you this. I live in Dilworth and swing into Sunflower on East Blvd once every couple of weeks on my way to work for one of these bad boys as a treat. So excited to try them myself!!
Me neither!! I was honestly expecting to never hear back so I was so excited! They were so, so nice to share!
I’m making these for sure! Do you think I could use applesauce instead of an apple? Also, I wonder how much? Thanks for the recipe share!
If you don’t have a food processor what would be the best way to prep the apples and carrots?
The new nutritional info. on your recipes ROCKS!! I am so, so, so happy you’re including that! Thank you! These look really good, I LOVE a good texture (especially when it’s walnut related.) Thanks!
So cool that they shared the recipe with you!
i love that these don’t have 8 thousand ingredients like most morning glory muffins! they sound so delicious, apple carrot muffins are my favorite so i can’t wait to try these. thanks for sharing 🙂
I assume that I could use coarsley shredded carrots as there are no matchstick in any local stores I shop in. ????
Yes! That should work! As long as you put them in the food processor!
Given that I only have PURPLE CARROTS (did you know that carrots were originally purple not orange?) I will wait as those could only give a muffin either an amazing or horrific colour!!!!
(http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/04/carrots-used-to-be-purple-before-the-17th-century/)
Love me a good muffin! I’m all over these! Thanks for sharing!
What kind of apple do you recommend?
I made these this weekend and they are delicious! Thanks so much for sharing.
I made these this past weekend (minus the raisins – don’t like how they get mushy in baked goods)!
They are so good! My husband was raving! Froze half and have been eating the other half all week. For some reason I didn’t read the notes at the end, and was having trouble measuring the carrots!
So happy you liked them!!!
Made these and love them! I’ve been eating one everyday for breakfast, haha. And my toddler enjoyed making them with me! (Getting him to eat them is another story…)
Made these and loved them! We already had whole carrots so I shredded about 10 of them to get 3.5cups (then switched food processor blade to chunkify them further). The recipe made 20 muffins for me— crazy to think that there’s half a carrot in each muffin! These muffins are basically vegetables! Cut up a couple of the muffins and call it a salad! Huzzah.
These mufins are AMAZING! The batch I made last week have been devoured within a couple days (aside from my sneaking a few away to freeze for the children…) and will be a new household favourite. I used Sprouted Spelt flour in lieu of the white flour and they turned out absolutely perfect. No adjustments to the measures were made.
Thank you!
I’m so, so glad you liked them!!! Thank you for taking the time to make them and for coming back to let me know! I really appreciate it! <3
This muffin looks so soft. I’m sure this is tasty. Kids will love it!
Made the muffins for my mother’s day Jazzercise class and they were a huge hit! My family also enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Excellent article. I will be facing a few of these issues as well..
Made these this morning! They are a hit!
I’ve been wanting to make these for so long. Finally bought all the ingredients and made them tonight-they are AMAZING!! I’m going to freeze most so we can pull them out in the morning for the kids for a quick breakfast before heading off to school.
One question: have you found a good alternative to the oil? I’d love to swap something healthier if you’ve found something that works!
I just swapped applesauce for half the oil. They were great!
Haha I also just realized both our comments start the exact same way!! 😀
I’ve been wanting to make these for so long and finally remembered to buy canned pineapple. In a half batch, I subbed applesauce for half the oil, used maple syrup for half the sugar plus stevia for the other half, and omitted the nuts so baby could chew them. I’ll be making these again! I’ve always liked morning glory muffins and these were fantastic! Yum yum yummy! Thanks, Julie!
OMG! I can’t believe you got this recipe! I always buy 2! One for now & one for a night snack. I have my friends addicted as well! Gonna make them, for sure! Thank you!