Morning Glory Bread

Fun fact: I worked at a bakery for about six months after college. I was basically a customer service representative so I rarely did any actual baking, but just being around the food all day taught me a lot. One of the best parts about working at the bakery was being able to take home any extra muffins leftover at the end of the day. My absolute favorites were Morning Glory Muffins-a delectable apple carrot muffin that practically melts in your mouth. I've been wanting to recreate the muffins for awhile, but with my own twist. I found a base recipe on allrecipes.com and then added a couple things I thought would put this over the top...and by a couple of things I mean coconut. Honestly, what recipe couldn't benefit from the addition of coconut? It's so YUM! I suppose if you're a coconut hater you could always omit it, but I'll be adding you to my prayer list.

Oh, and in case you were wondering this is Morning Glory Bread not muffins. I decided on bread simply because it could be cut up to serve more people than the muffins.

Oh, and don't let the long ingredient list scare you off. This really comes together pretty quickly, especially if you have a food processor that can do some of the prep for you., o if you can do some prep in advance.

Alright, done now. I promise. Time to get to the kitchen!

Morning Glory Bread
Makes 2 loaves of bread
Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking salt
2 cups grated carrots
1 apple, peeled,cored, and sliced
1 cup raisins
3/4 cup unsweetened coconut
1 egg
2 egg whites
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 Tablespoons coconut or vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 Tablespoons chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat two 8 or 9 in loaf pans with cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flours, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in carrots, apples, raisins, and coconut.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, applesauce, oil, and vanilla.
4. Stir applesauce mixture into dry ingredients until just moistened. The batter will be very thick. It may look dry but eventually the wet ingredients do come together with the dry. If necessary add another Tablespoon or two of oil.
5. Pour batter into two loaf pans.
6. Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.
7. Cool completely before removing from pans.