Recipe: Morning Glory Muffins

This Father’s Day my mom found a recipe from the local newspaper for something called “Morning Glory Muffins.” Well, we had them in the morning, but I’m sure they will taste great any time of day! They are jam-packed with healthy, tasty ingredients that are sure to get you started on a fabulous day.

Ingredients:

·        1 ¼ cup granulated sugar

·        ½ cup vegetable oil

·        3 eggs

·        2 tsp vanilla extract

·        2 cups all-purpose flour

·        2 tsp baking powder

·        ¼ tsp salt

·        1 tsp cinnamon

·        1 ½ cups grated carrots

·        ½ cups raisins (we used golden raisins)

·        ½ cup flaked coconut

·        ½ cup peeled diced raw apple

·        ½ cup chopped pecans (we used slivered almonds)

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a big bowl.
3. Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in another bowl. Add to the liquid ingredients and stir just until moistened. Gently fold in carrots, raisins, coconut, apple, and nuts.
4. Pour into well-greased muffin tins (or just use cupcake holders) to about two-thirds full (about ¼ cup batter per muffin). Bake 20-25 minutes, until light golden on the edges and tops.

Makes 16 muffins, but I used my scoop to portion out the batter, so I got 24 smaller muffins. Thanks Barbara Jarrett for your recipe!

This is also an easily adaptable recipe as I’m sure you could substitute a variety of nuts and use dried cranberries (Craisins) instead of raisins. 

Carrot Cake Recipe

I made this recipe as a practice for a cake order I have coming up at the end of the month. I was a bit skeptical to try it, as Paula Deen recipes have lots of butter and sometimes don't turn out the best. However, after sifting through a lot of the 216 reviews (this is still a 5-star recipe on the Food Network site), I decided to give it a try. And it was delicious! Get ready to grate your carrots kiddies, because this is a lot more labor intensive than dumping some boxed mix into a mixing bowl with some other ingredients!

I did not use this frosting recipe since I needed it to "crust" a little more than typical cream cheese frosting in order to apply the fondant, but from my judgment I would say that this frosting recipe will be delicious also! You can find the original posting of this recipe here.

Ingredients:

• Butter, for pans
• 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, optional (I used walnuts)

Frosting:

• 2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 stick salted butter, room temperature
• 1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 3 (9-inch) round pans; Line bottom of the pans with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add eggs and vegetable oil. Using a hand mixer, blend until combined. Add carrots and pecans, if using.
3. Pour into pans. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool for 5 minutes. Remove from pans, place on waxed paper and allow to cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:

1. Add all ingredients, except nuts, into a medium bowl and beat until fluffy using a hand mixer. Stir in the nuts. Spread frosting on top of each cake layer. Stack the cakes on a serving plate and serve. 

 

Coffee Cake Recipe

As some of you may know, my mom is a coffee cake queen. I would venture to say that it may be her favorite baked good/sweet treat. She’s won at the fair with her recipes and has done some clever ingredient changes. She gave me this recipe to make, found in an old “Look Homeward, Lafayette: Sesquicentennial Edition (1845-1995)” cookbook that is very tasty! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients:

Cake

½ lb butter or margarine (softened)

2 cups sugar

1 pint (1 lb) sour cream

4 eggs (add one at a time, beating well after each addition)

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups flour

3 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

Topping

½ cup sugar

2 tsp cinnamon (or to taste)

¾ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Steps:

1.      Cream the butter and sugar.

2.      Add sour cream, eggs, and vanilla to the mixture.

3.      Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda & powder), then gradually mix into creamed mixture.

4.      Pour into a greased 9x13” pan. (The recipe also says you can use three 8” or 9” cake pans, or loaf pans).

5.      Mix together chopped walnuts, cinnamon, and sugar in a separate bowl (I used a lot more walnuts, probably about 2 cups, in order to cover the top more).

6.      Take knife and run it down the cake in lines or swirls so that the topping gets into the batter.

7.      Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes or when tester comes out clean (use a toothpick, it’s cheap and easy, unless you like the testers better!).

You can also customize this recipe by using different nuts for the topping, along with raisins, apples, or other fresh/dried fruits. The recipe says it freezes well. Thanks Jean A. Koszoru for your yummy recipe!

**Watch out for your broiler! I found that the higher temperature (375 versus the average cake/baking temperature of 350 degrees) was a bit too hot for our “vintage” oven. The top got a little crisp after the first 20 minutes, so I had to move it down to a lower rack. But nonetheless, delicious!