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| Newspapers ran versions of this popular recipe for years and years |
I enjoyed researching and learning the backstory about this recipe...but the actual muffins not so much. Tom agrees.
Yet, people still claim it is their all-time favorite muffin! Even when they say they have to put a paper towel in the storage container. Morning Glory Muffins are a little oily. Nonetheless, it is a good recipe to know about.
The recipe has been adapted over the years. People have added ginger, cut back on the oil, and switched the sugar from white to brown. Some add baking powder. Golden versus regular raisins. Tart versus sweet apple. Sweetened versus unsweetened coconut. Pecans versus walnuts.
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| carrots, apple, coconut, pineapple and raisins |
But what doesn't change is the use of carrots, apple, crushed pineapple, coconut, raisins, and cinnamon.
It first became popular on Nantucket, then in the Boston region. It later received national attention when it was featured in Gourmet magazine in 1981, and then was chosen in 1991 as one of the best recipes of the last 50 years.
I saw it in Sarah Leah Chase's New England Open House Cookbook. She is a long-time friend of Pam McKinstry and felt she never received enough credit. But I wasn't sure if it was THE recipe, so I tracked down the original. First, I tried to find the Gourmet magazine feature with no luck. (On a side note, it is very frustrating to me that Gourmet magazines and their wealth of food history, travel, and recipes are still not available online. Then, I tried to buy the actual magazine on eBay. No luck. Then, I thought about asking my sister-in-law, Laddie, who used to save every single issue. But they have probably been donated or recycled by now.) Next, I tried to find Pam McKinstry's cookbooks from that era, but they are all out-of-print and not available. Next step was to search newspapers.com. There I found lots of recipes for Morning Glory Muffins but not THE recipe. Finally, I had some luck. I searched the archive for the newspaper on Nantucket. It's called the Nantucket Atheneum.
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| Click here to go to article in the Nantucket Antheneum. |
Found it! A 1981 article ran with the whole backstory on Pam McKinstry, including photos. Note: Recipe does not include raisins in this version. Otherwise, it is the same, if halved, as the one Sarah Leah Chase published and I used. The gist of the story is that she had no cooking experience but wanted to open a restaurant on Nantucket. She was a hospital administrator in Boston area with a creative bent who learned to fly and was flying to Nantucket for lunch weekly on Wednesdays. She decided to move there and make a career change. So she read cookbooks and took classes. Taught herself and became a successful restaranteur with several restaurants.
She was a gutsy entrepreneur who pursued her dreams when it wasn't common for women to do so.
---Barbara
Morning Glory Muffins
(a Pam McKinstry recipe with my directions)
Makes 16
2 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 T. cinnamon
2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
1/2 cup raisins (golden)
1 apple, peeled and shredded
1 cup (8-ounce can) crushed pineapple, drained
2 cups shredded peeled carrots (about 4 carrots)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped
3 large eggs
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
1 t. vanilla
I used the Sarah Leah Chase recipe but changed the direction to include my methods. For example, I use a Cuisinart for grating the carrots and apple. And no paper liners. Not a fan of them.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Sift the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Whisk together, then add the chopped pecans.
Scrape the carrots and shred them using a Cuisinart with the grater insert. I find this to be the fastest, easiest way to shred carrots.
Peel and core the apple, and then shred it in the Cuisinart too.
Drain the crushed pineapple well.
Add all of these to the dry ingredients, and stir to combine. It will look like a thick cookie dough.
In a small bowl, combine the eggs, oil and vanilla and whisk until well combined.
Pour the wet ingredients over the dough,
and stir until it loosens up and the egg mixture is evenly distributed.
Spray 16 muffin cups with PAM or baking spray
Fill them to the brim with batter.
Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes, then pop them out of the muffin tin and on to a rack to cool completely.
Best when allowed to "ripen" overnight at room temperature and served the next day. But also very good hot out of the oven.
I have seen suggestions of serving them with cream cheese and honey.
I have also seen suggestions to place a paper towel under the muffins before you put them in a container, to absorb any excess oil.
They freeze well.
If we make them again, I would definitely cut back on the oil or try melted butter instead.
B