Cooking Light came out with these Morning Glory Muffins in 2007. That means I’ve been baking these for 15 years!! They were a household staple in my mom’s house and I’ve tweaked them just a bit to make them lower in added sugars and higher in the whole grain department.

They’re aren’t your “light and fluffy” muffin. They are moist and dense… full of oats, nuts, and dried fruit. The date and pineapple combination is a real winner, in my opinion. You can try other fruits if you don’t have those on hand, but that combination makes me feel like I’m eating a fruit cake! It’s also why I was able to decrease the sugar to 1/4 cup from the 3/4 cup that the original recipe called for. I just don’t see the need for 3/4 cup when you’ve got that much sweetness coming from dried fruit.

I’ve tested the full sugar recipe against the lower sugar recipe and noticed that the lower sugar muffin didn’t rise quite a much, didn’t brown as much, but was a little more moist than the full sugar version. All these differences are fairly small, though.

The other change I made was using white whole wheat flour instead of a combination of white flour and whole wheat flour. I also made 12 muffins instead of 18. Sometimes, I don’t have time to bake another pan… its a little annoying. So I just pile the batter into 12 muffin tins and have slightly larger muffins. You can always make 18 smaller muffins, like the original Cooking Light recipe.

We eat these with a big glob of peanut or almond butter at our house. They’re also great with a bowl of greek yogurt… its almost like a granola topping!

Enjoy!

Yield: 12

Morning Glory Muffins

This is not your "light and fluffy muffin" recipe. These are moist and dense, full of oats, nuts and dried fruit. They pair perfectly with a smear of nut butter or a side of Greek yogurt for a complete, satisfying breakfast.

Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 35 Min

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tablespoon wheat bran
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup 2% greek yogurt
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 large)
1 large egg
1 cup chopped, pitted dates
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup chopped dried pineapple
3 tablespoons ground flaxseed

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat a muffin tin with cooking spray.
Combine all the dry ingredients (flour through salt) in a large bowl and stir with a whisk.
Combine the yogurt, banana, and egg in a medium bowl stirring until incorporated.
Add the yogurt mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until they're incorporated.
Fold in the dates, walnuts and pineapple.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin and sprinkle each muffin with flaxseed.
Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan immediately and cool on a wire rack.