More like 'soon it will be morning' muffins.

I started making these at around 11pm.

I got upset and angry and as sad as it sounds I know I can always count on a trip to the supermarket and a quickie baking sesh to fix me right no matter how late it is.

So we went to Countdown, Alix needed study munchies and I needed crushed pineapple. And mini Whitakers almond bars. And carrots. And prunes. And apricots. And an apple.

I was going to make these next week anyway as part of my study muffin series, so I justified this as I was really saving time in the future. Plus they have carrots and fruit in them. They are basically your 5+ a day in one delicious muffin. Or not.

So the story of the morning glory muffin begins in a cafe a woman named Pam McKinstry owned called the Morning Glory Cafe on the island of Nantucket in the US. She published the recipe in Gourmet magazine in 1981 and ever since these muffins in all their variations have been known as morning glory muffins.

This is her recipe that I used here.

My Nana was given a similar recipe ages ago and Mum used to make them for us so I associate these muffins with my family. They are best made fresh in the morning, pulled open still hot with a nice knife-full of butter slapped between the halves where it melts into the moist, fruit filled muffin. I have memories in my head of a tea towel lined wicker basket being filled with these.

Like I said before, they are filled with carrots, apple, pineapple and dried fruit. I also used half wholemeal flour in this recipe too. They are good morning energy muffins, especially when sleep is in short supply and concentration needs to be high. You can wrap them up in glad wrap then pop them in the freezer for when you need them. Either pop them in the microwave to defrost, or let them defrost over the course of the morning so they are ready for morning tea. Alix said that frozen muffins are great because they hold their shape in her bag and don't get squashed. Bonus!

It's 11.47pm and the house smells of fresh muffins. Not the best smell to go to sleep to. Somewhat torturous. At least our dreams will be sweet.

Morning Glory Muffins

adapted from The Original Morning Glory Muffin recipe

Makes 24

Dry ingredients:

1 cup wholemeal flour

1 1/4 cup plain flour

1 1/4 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 large apple, grated

2 large carrots, grated

1/2 cup prunes, halved

1/2 cup dried apricots, halved

1/2 cup desiccated or threaded coconut

3/4 cup raisins

1 cup crushed pineapple, drained

Wet ingredients:

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees and line two muffin trays with paper cases (I use the large jaytee ones).

In a large bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, sugar and cinnamon. Tip the bran that was too big to go through the sieve back into the bowl. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until evenly combined.

In a small separate bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.

Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Do not over mix.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases until they are about 4/5 full. They don't tend to rise much due to the density of the mixture so there is little risk of an epic overflow fail.

Bake for 25-35 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. I am still confused with my oven. Half the time it wants to be a fan bake oven and the other half of the time it is a normal bake oven. The original recipe says these need like half an hour to 35 minutes to cook but they only took 25 with me. So if you are using fan bake don't forget to drop the temperature by 20 degrees and just keep an eye on them.

Remove from oven and leave to cool slightly before turning out onto a clean tea towel or cooling rack.