morning glory muffins

I’m not good at it.

Everyone at Crazy Girl Yarn Shop in Coralville kept saying, “You’re doing fine” and “It will get easier.”

What does this have to do with apples? Well, I stayed up until 2 a.m. Friday knitting. I actually took the whole thing apart, watched a YouTube video on how to cast on and started over.

More than once.

Needless to say, I was pretty tired Friday, so I slept in Saturday and had to forgo the apple pancakes I was planning to make and went with muffins instead. Muffins can be consumed at any time. Pancakes? Not so much — well, unless you’re having brinner.

MORNING GLORY MUFFINS

• 2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 can (8 ounces) crushed pineapple, drained
• 2 cups finely carrots
• 1 large crisp apple, such as Fuji, Gala, or Honey Crisp
• ½ cup shredded, sweetened coconut
• ½ cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter 24 standard-size muffin cups or line them with cupcake liners.

Place the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl and whisk well to combine. Add the pineapple, carrots, apple, raisins, and nuts and stir to combine.

Place the eggs, oil, and vanilla in a small bowl and whisk to combine well. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling them almost to the brim.

Bake the muffins until they are brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes.

Place the muffin pan(s) on a wire rack and let the muffins cool for 10 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan to finish cooling. The muffins can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. Let the muffins thaw in the refrigerator overnight and return to room temperature before serving.

Source: The Apple Lover’s Cookbook by Amy Traverso (W. W. Norton & Company; Sept. 2011)