MORNING GLORY MUFFINS WITH ALMOND MEAL

In the coffee shops I patronize, morning glory muffins are a popular muffin sold along with coffee or a latte.  These muffins include apple, raisins, some nuts, sometimes coconut and cinnamon or other spices.  I modified the recipe I had to make it gluten free, used splenda instead of sugar and added apple sauce and coconut.  In my zealous in peeling and grating carrots, I had more than 2 cups which the recipe called for.  I added it anyways.  I also used one cup of apple sauce instead of 3/4 of a cup so I baked the muffins for longer than 20 minutes.  If you follow the quantities called for in the ingredients, the cooking time should be closer to 20 minutes.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups ground almond meal 1 cup splenda 1 tbsp ground cinnamon 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 2 cups grated carrots 1 apple - peeled, cored, and chopped

1 cup raisins 2 eggs 3/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1 tbsp vanilla extract 2 - 3 tbsp chopped walnuts 1/3 cup shredded coconut

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.   Lightly oil 24 muffin cups, or coat with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, apple sauce, oil and vanilla.

In a large bowl, stir together flours, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in carrots, apples, coconut, walnuts and raisins. Stir in apple mixture until just moistened. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and spring back when lightly pressed. Modified from www.Allrecipes.com