The past few days have been cold, foggy, and grey here in Seattle, and I’m finding myself drawn to bright, rainbow-y foods. Well, that and wine, but I’m trying to stick mainly with bright, happy, healthy foods. It works about 90% of the time. So, I decided to whip up a batch of morning glory muffins to make my early mornings a little happier. I used a blend of gluten-free flour from King Arthur Flours from our Christmas trip to Vermont, and I have to say, it’s pretty amazing, but you could safely get away with any whole-grain flour or blend (buckwheat would be mighty nice).

One thing that’s so nice about these little lovelies is that you can toss in whatever you feel like. I happened to have pears, raisins, pumpkin seeds, and shredded carrots, but seriously anything would be really tasty. Okay, not anything, but many things. I think my next batch will have figs, apples, carrots, and maaaaybe chocolate nibs. Delight.

Recipe: Makes 12 regular-size muffins, and a few wee baby muffins

2 cups whole grain flour

1 Tbsp xantham gum

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch salt

cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves to taste

2 Tbsp chia seeds plus 6 Tbsp warm water (whisked together)

1/2 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 cup non-dairy milk of your choice

1 knob coconut oil, melted

1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1 shredded carrot

1 chopped pear

handful raisins

handful pumpkin seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk wet ingredients together, mix dry ingredients, and add wet to dry. Add fruits and seeds/nuts. Grease or line muffin tins, and bake roughly 30 minutes. Put in face and EAT (maybe with jam)!