Morning Glory Muffins #MuffinMonday

Any morning can be glorious if you wake up to Morning Glory Muffins for breakfast. Chock full of goodies like carrot, pecans, apple and coconut, these beautiful muffins also make a wonderful snack or treat to bring along to a coffee klatch.

If you’ve been reading this space for a while, you have already heard me talk about the couple years we lived in Balikpapan, an oilfield town on the southeast corner of Borneo, almost 30 years ago.

It was years before the internet became the lifeline that it is now for folks in out of the way places, so we depended on our friends sharing their favorite recipes from the small stash of cookbooks or family jottings that they had brought along. That’s where I learned to make our favorite chocolate chip cookies and garlicky green beans with carrots.  And it’s where my friend MJ added sweet and sour chicken to her own family repertoire, which has now become one of ours.

Morning Glory Muffins

This recipe is another I got from a friend, after enjoying morning glory muffins at her house where we gathered weekly to play cards. Her name was Elisabeth and she was from Norway, married to an American, if I remember correctly. Of course I’ve searched for her on Facebook. I'd love to thank her again for sharing.

Pretty dog-eared and well-used, as you can see

Ingredients – for 18 muffins
2 cups or 250g flour
1 cup or 200g sugar
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups or 245g finely grated carrot
1/2 cup or 90g raisins (I didn't have quite enough raisins so I threw in some dried cranberries.)
1/2 cup or 65g chopped nuts (I use pecans.)
1/2 cup lightly packed or 40g fresh or desiccated coconut
1 apple, peeled, cored and grated
3 eggs
1 cup or 240ml canola or other light oil
2 teaspoons vanilla


Method
Once you have all of your ingredients grated/assembled, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease or line a 12-cup muffin pan and a 6-cup muffin pan. This recipe makes 18 regular size muffins.

In a large bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

Add in the carrot, raisins, nuts, coconut and apple. Stir well, using a fork to separate the clumps and distribute the flour throughout the wetter ingredients.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and vanilla.

Fold the egg mixture into the flour mixture until just combined.

Spoon the batter into your prepared muffins pans.

Bake for 20-25 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from the oven and cool for a few minutes on a wire rack.

These are fabulous warm or cooled. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Enjoy! P.S. They freeze beautifully too!

Check out all the other lovely muffins we have for you this month! 

• Bouchon Bakery Style Carrot Muffins from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Cocoa Beet Chocolate Chip Muffins from Farm Fresh Feasts
• Lucky Charms Muffins from Palatable Pastime
• Morning Glory Muffins from Food Lust People Love
• Rice Cereal Apple Muffins from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Strawberry and Chocolate Muffin Hearts from Sew You Think You Can Cook

 #MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board. Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

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Ground Lamb Lancashire Hotpot

This untraditional recipe uses ground lamb cooked with carrots, onions and thinly sliced potatoes, for an inexpensive, quicker-to-the-table version of the classic Lancashire hotpot.

Lancashire hotpot is a hearty dish from the northwest of England, made from some of the less expensive cuts of lamb cooked long and slow until they are tender. This is a great family meal on a chilly night when the heat of the oven is a comfort and we all need something warm in our bellies.

Browning the ground lamb until it turns crispy deepens the flavor of the gravy that is created with the added stock as the hotpot bakes.

Ground Lamb Lancashire Hotpot

My untraditional version uses an even cheaper cut, ground or minced lamb, which since it’s already tender, also shortens the cooking time. If you can't find ground lamb or you simply aren't a fan, substitute beef or pork.

Ingredients
1 lb 6 oz or 625g ground lamb
2 tablespoons plain flour
3 cups or 710ml beef or lamb stock
2 medium carrots, roughly chopped
1 large onion, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf or 2 small ones
5 medium potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil (for frying ground lamb and greasing Dutch oven for baking)

Method
Brown the ground lamb very well, until it’s a little crispy on the edges, adding a little of the olive oil if the lamb is dry. Some ground meat contains more fat than others, depending on which cuts the butcher has included in the mix.

Once the meat is well browned, sprinkle in the flour. Cook a few minutes more, stirring well. Turn the heat off and stir in the stock.

Add in carrots, onion and bay leaf.

Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Grease your Dutch oven with some of the olive oil. Line the base with potato slices then season them with salt and pepper.

Spoon the ground lamb mixture on top of the potatoes. Top with the rest of the potato slices.

Drizzle the potatoes with melted butter and season with salt and pepper.

Cover the Dutch oven with a tight-fitting lid and cook the ground lamb Lancashire hotpot in your preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the potatoes are tender. 

Remove the lid and cook another 20-30 minutes so the top can brown. If it is not browned to your satisfaction, you can put it under the broiler (Br. Eng: grill) for 5 or 10 minutes to brown further but do keep a close eye on it so it doesn’t burn.

Enjoy!

We eat a lot of lamb at our house. If you are also a fan of lamb, you might want to check out these other recipes, all family favorites.

• Irish Lamb Stew - perfect for St. Patrick's Day! 
• Saucy Persian Lamb Meatballs
• Grilled Lamb Skewers with Roasted Carrots

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Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffin Top Cookies #CreativeCookieExchange

Full of protein and fiber, baked with unrefined brown sugar, peanut butter oatmeal muffin top cookies make a great on-the-go breakfast or mid-morning snack.

I learn something new every day. When the theme of this month’s Creative Cookie Exchange was announced as Breakfast Cookies, I dutifully wrote it down in my calendar and didn’t give it another thought till last weekend. Friends were visiting from overseas and as I checked my to-do list, we discussed the upcoming challenge.

What the hell are breakfast cookies? I asked. How have I never heard of breakfast cookies? Are they a thing? I was assured that they most certainly are and that they can be purchased in supermarkets, even in Aberdeen. There, normal cookies are called biscuits and yet, they still bake and sell breakfast cookies!

I declined to look them up but decided to create my own version, a cookie that would be reasonably healthy, delicious and portable for breakfast, something akin to a muffin top. These guys are a little chewier than a muffin top, but they are still plenty cakey, as a muffin top should be.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffin Top Cookies

Five-minute oats are the middle sibling between rolled oats and quick cooking oats. If you are measuring by weight, probably either of these can be substituted, with the rolled oats probably needing a little longer time to soften in the milk.

Ingredients
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
3/4 cup or 65g 5-minute oats
1/2 cup or 125g extra crunchy peanut butter (I prefer Jif but use your favorite.)
3/4 cup or 150g unrefined brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups or 190g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Method
Preheat oven to 375°F or 190°C and prepare your two baking sheets by lining them with baking parchment or silicone mats.

In a small mixing bowl, combine the milk and oats. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, use a wooden spoon to beat the peanut butter together with the brown sugar, egg and vanilla until you have a nice homogeneous mixture.

Add in the oats and milk. Stir to combine.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the peanut butter bowl and fold until just combined.

Spoon about 2 level tablespoons of dough, at 2 in or 4cm apart, onto your prepared cookie sheets. I like to use a two-tablespoon scoop, which makes the process so much easier.

Use the bottom of a glass dipped in water or a damp hand to press the cookies down.

Bake for 8-10 minutes in your preheated over or until the edges are lightly golden brown.

Cool for a couple of minutes and then use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling. These turn out cakey and very much like a breakfast muffin top!

Enjoy!

Check out all the other breakfast cookies we are sharing today! Many thanks to Felice of All That's Left Are The Crumbs for her behind the scenes work this month.

• Brown Sugar Almond Biscotti by Queen Bee Baker
• Italian Breakfast Cookies by All That's Left Are The Crumbs
• Peanut Butter Oatmeal Muffin Top Cookies by Food Lust People Love
• Ricotta Lemon Cookies by Cream and Butter
• Trail Mix Cookies by Karen's Kitchen Stories

Creative Cookie Exchange is hosted by Laura of The Spiced Life. We get together once a month to bake cookies with a common theme or ingredient so Creative Cookie Exchange is a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board. We post the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

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