Cinnamon Breakfast Muffins
This is a muffin that just makes the cut into breakfast-land in my books. It’s barely sweet, with only 12 grams of sugar per muffin, less than a quarter of what you find in sugary cereals like Fruit Loops, and there’s a surprising amount of good-for-you fresh carrot and apple in it. To quote Stephen, my head chef at RecipeTin Meals (my food bank): “I actually really enjoyed it. It was sweet but not too sweet. I didn’t think I was going to enjoy it because it’s not my kind of thing but yeah, good texture, nice taste and not too heavy.” (By “his kind of thing”, he is referring to wholesomeness masquerading as a muffin. Or, a muffin masquerading as wholesomeness. He’s a burley northern English lad. I don’t know why, but I feel that explains a lot, in reference to these muffins. 😂) PS This is Stephen. He is one of the funniest people I know. He has been known to have me collapse on the floor laughing!
Ingredients in Cinnamon Breakfast Muffins
Muffin add-ins
This is a good recipe for using leftover bits of dried fruit and nuts. You can literally use anything you want, or even seeds like pepitas and sunflower seeds.
Raisins and walnuts – These are the fruit and nuts I used, but as mentioned above, you can use whatever you want or have. I like raisins over sultanas and currants because they’re bigger and plumper! And I feel like the earthy flavour of walnuts just works in this whole breakfast muffin. Coconut – For flavour, moisture retention in the crumb, and a touch of sweetness (though note, I use unsweetened not sweetened). I use desiccated coconut which is the really finely shredded coconut. Shredded coconut (the fine strands) will also work but flakes will be too large. If you don’t like or don’t have coconut, leave it out and add an extra 1 tablespoon of flour into the batter. Granny Smith apple – This is my choice of apple because I like that it’s tart-sweet. But any colour and variety of apple will work here. Use a medium to large one. We need 1 1/4 cups of shredded flesh, including the juices. Don’t tightly pack the cup to measure (ie don’t press the shredded apple down into the cup with your hand),Also, I don’t peel. There’s extra nutrients in the skin! Carrot – This recipe calls for 2 cups shredded carrot. As wth the apple, don’t tightly pack the cup to measure and don’t peel!
muffin batter
Not as many substitutions for the batter because baking is a bit of a science so there’s a reason for the amount and use of ingredients. But there are still some options, which is always nice! If you don’t like or don’t have coconut, leave it out and add an extra 1 tablespoon of flour into the batter. Also, I don’t peel. There’s extra nutrients in the skin!
How to make Cinnamon Breakfast Muffins
You might get little bits of carrot and apple all over your kitchen and yourself. But the actual muffin batter part is super duper easy! Butter and non-liquid coconut oil (ie the type you have to melt) will work but the muffins are a bit less moist inside. 💡 For fellow cooking nerds: Yes, the acid in the OJ helps activate the baking soda to make the muffin rise but so too does the acid in brown sugar (yes, there’s acid in brown sugar) so it’s ok to substitute with milk as we have another acid source in this batter.
The add-ins
Add-ins prepped. Now onto the batter!
The batter
💡 Whisk dry before the wet ingredients. If you do the wet ingredients first, the flour gets stuck to the whisk when you whisk the dry ingredients. It matters – what if it’s all baking soda that gets stuck to the whisk?! 💡An ice cream scoop with a lever is a fast way to fill muffin tins evenly and neatly. You can eat these plain – they are full of flavour and the crumb is so soft and tender, it’s great even at room temperature. But I highly encourage experiencing these at least once with a smear of lightly salted butter. Softened. Don’t try to spread rock hard butter on this soft muffin, you’ll smush the crumb! Bake them this weekend to tuck into lunch boxes next week, for after school snacking, book club, and breakfast on the run. Fitting for so many purposes! And a great shelf life of 5 days. Enjoy! – Nagi x
The crumb will be a touch less soft (because baking soda is more powerful) and the dome is a touch less golden (because baking soda gives colour to things better than baking powder). But it wouldn’t stop me from making it!
Watch how to make it
Life of Dozer
Home video from Bayview dog beach! Living life to the max in his Golden Years. ❤️
