These gluten free Morning Glory Muffins are moist and delicious filled with carrot, apple, coconut and walnuts. They're a high fibre muffin that's great for on-the-go or in your lunch bag. Once you've got a gluten free flour blend that works in everyday recipes like muffins and pancakes, gluten free baking gets a whole lot easier.
In this Recipe Roundup of gluten free muffins I share the muffin recipes I've been making for decades. I can turn my banana muffins into a loaf or a Bundt Cake for a party and my cornmeal muffins into Cornbread-Sausage Stuffing for turkey dinner. Gluten free cooks need recipes like these. Tried-and-true favourites that work every time.
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Ingredients
Once you've got a gluten free flour blend that works in everyday recipes, like muffins, gluten free baking gets a whole lot easier. I use my EGFG flour blend in about 80% of my regular baking.
To learn more about flour sign up to my email list and get all my best resources sent to your inbox or join my class, Understanding How To Use Gluten Free Flour.
- EGFG gluten free flour blend (sweet rice flour, potato starch, sorghum flour, millet flour)
- sugar
- baking soda
- cinnamon
- xanthan gum
- carrot
- raisins
- walnuts
- coconut
- apple
- eggs
- cooking oil - I'm moving away from vegetable oil and use olive oil in almost all of my baking.
- vanilla
See recipe card for exact amounts.
Instructions
You don’t need an electric mixer for most muffins, just two bowls and a spatula. In this recipe there's one extra bowl with all the healthy ingredients. Mixing the apple, carrot, nuts, raisins and coconut together first helps to ensure everything is evenly combined. It's worth it!
Using a portion scoop speeds up the process plus the uniform muffin size ensures they will cook evenly. Buy 3 sizes of scoops, you'll never be sorry!
Substitutions and Variations
Xanthan gum - The best substitute for xanthan is guar gum. Use it in equal amounts in any recipe calling for xanthan gum.
Carrot and apple - Measure 2¾ to 3 cups total and use any combination of grated carrot, apple or zucchini. Substitute some of the total measurement with drained, crushed pineapple if you like.
Nuts - Walnuts or pecans are my favourite but any nuts or seeds will add the crunch you've looking for. For nut-free version try pumpkin or sunflower seeds.
Raisins - Substitute with dried cranberries or finely chopped dates.
Coconut - I think Morning Glory Muffins should have coconut but feel free to omit it if you don't have any or don't like it. Stick to the same total amount of cups and use any combination of all these ingredients.
Equipment
Every kitchen needs tools so buy quality since many of these will last decades. Here are some of the tools I use to make muffins:
- Regular size muffin pan in 6 or 12 cups, my choice for everyday snacks
- Portion scoops to efficiently portion the batter making uniform size muffins
- Mini size muffin tin for little hands or just a change from the ordinary
- Silicone cupcake and muffin pan, 12 cup
- Ceramic coated muffin tin
- Regular round silicone muffin liners or a set of different shaped muffin liners
Storage
Store baked goods in an airtight container as soon as they have cooled completely. Double wrap if desired. Using xanthan gum also helps with freshness. Freeze if not eating within a few days.
Gluten free baking goes stale more quickly than baked goods with wheat flour. This is more noticeable with blends that have a high amount of starch. Following the above steps will help as will learning more about gluten free flour.
Top Tip
The cooling step is crucial for gluten free baked goods. Transfer your muffins to a cooking rack and let them cool for at least ten minutes. If you taste them too soon out of the oven they will be gummy so be patient.
When you perfect your gluten free baking everyone will want to eat it. That's the joy of baking!
Gluten Free Morning Glory Muffins
Equipment
Ingredients
DRY INGREDIENTS BOWL #1
- 2 cups EGFG gluten free flour blend* (260g)
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
DRY INGREDIENTS BOWL #2
- 2 cups grated carrot
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- 1 apple, peeled and grated
WET INGREDIENTS
- 3 eggs
- ⅔ cup vegetable oil
- 2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl mix together flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
- Add carrot, raisins, walnuts, coconut and apple to the dry ingredients and mix in.
- In a small bowl beat together the eggs, oil and vanilla. Add to the above mixture and stir until combined.
- Scoop batter into lined muffin pan and bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.
- Cool on wire racks. Keep in fridge for up to a week, freeze well.
Notes
Nutrition
FAQ's About Gluten Free Flour
It takes time in the kitchen to learn about gluten free flour. There's no right flour blend for everyone but there is likely more than one blend that you will be happy with. I recommend baking the same handful of recipes (like muffins and pancakes), over and over so you can try different flour blends and notice the subtle differences. The more you bake the more confident you'll become making adjustments and the quicker you'll find out what flour blend you like.
It doesn't matter. Store bought is a great place to start since there are so many to choose from. If you've been disappointed too many times making your own is easier than you think and you can make small batches to learn more quickly. Look at my table of 11 Gluten Free Flour Recipes to see the many ways cooks are combining flour.
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Lana
Receipe sounds great can it
Be made using a flax egg ?
Cinde Little
Great question Lana! I haven't tried this recipe with a flax egg so here are my thoughts. If you've successfully made other gluten free muffins with a flax egg then go ahead and try it. This recipe has 3 eggs so my friend Taleen, over at Just as Tasty (a gluten free AND egg free blog) calls it an 'egg heavy' recipe. You might want to add some applesauce too, 3-4 Tbsp to replace one of the eggs. For others reading this I use this conversion: 1 flax egg = 1 Tbsp ground flax seed + 3 Tbsp filtered water. Two more things to remember to help with structure in gluten free baking is to cook your baking fully (usually a little longer than recipes with wheat flour) and allow proper cooling. All that and we didn't even talk about the flour. The results will of course vary slightly if you use a different flour blend. Just pay attention to what you do and keep learning as you go. Best of luck!
Gwen
These are really good muffins!
Cinde Little
Thanks Gwen, I think so too. Yesterday I found some cream cheese icing in the back of my fridge and now it's calling me to slather on my muffin. The quick switch from breakfast to dessert. 🙂 Happy baking!
Leslie
Cinde, your Morning Glory Muffins sound wonderful!
Cinde Little
Thanks Leslie! We love them. This is an tried-and-true family recipe that converted to gluten free with just a tiny bit of xanthan gum.