Sunrise Muffins

This recipe is the result of me trying to find a way to use up some orange marmalade. I ended up combining a couple of different recipes and making a few additions to come up with these - a great power muffin to get you started in the morning!

1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup toasted wheat germ
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 beaten egg
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 cup shredded carrot
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried apricot, chopped
1/2 cup orange marmalade

Lightly coat 12 muffin cups with cooking spray. Preheat oven to 400 F.

In a medium bowl, combine the flours, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Make a well in the flour mixture.

In a small bowl, combine the egg, buttermilk, brown sugar, and oil. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture all at once. Stir just until moistened (batter should be lumpy). Gently fold raisins, apricots, and carrots into batter.

Spoon one tablespoon batter into each muffin cup. Make a small well in the batter in each cup and place 1/2 teaspoon orange marmalade into each well. Cover marmalade with another tablespoon of batter (should fill muffin cups 3/4 full).

Bake muffins for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

I thought these were great, but next time I'll probably add a little ginger to give them some more zing - either 1 teaspoon fresh minced ginger or 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger.