While cooking, listen to this: See You Again - Tyler the Creator Feat. Kali Uchis

I will never forget the one year I tried to have a nice Valentine’s Day. I will also never forget to never try it again.

A few years ago, my fiance had a Valentine’s Day gig at the Rainbow Room and I was able to get on the guest list (don’t be fooled - I am nowhere near as cool as that may sound). Since we had only been dating for a year or so at that point, my plan was to get all dressed up, show him how killer I was and that he should whisk me to City Hall ASAP.

But New York had other plans.

The night started as I intended, with the lipstick and the heels and the nervous sweating that only standing in front of my freezer in mid-February could fix. I decided, hey, I’m a fancy lady tonight, I’m going to treat myself to a taxi. I was already bright red under my makeup and SO WARM and the subway would do nothing but turn me into a pumpkin. I assumed the Rainbow Room didn’t let pumpkins in, so cab it was.

I hailed a cab right outside of my building, and we were off!

Oh, did I say off? I mean we pulled into the street and almost hit a biker.

Now, naturally, this man was allowed to be mad. Bikers have it BAD in the city and he almost experienced the worst thing that can happen to you on a bike. So, yeah, yelling? Totally warranted.

Opening the driver’s door and punching him right in the face? Not so much.

Of course my reaction wasn’t to be cool, calm and collected but to start crying. Like, heaving sobs in the back of a cab. Makeup? Done for. Cute outfit? Now covered in sweat AND tears.

I immediately called 911. The biker stopped attacking the driver and, I presumed, ran away. But nope, he’s back again to do some more damage. He beat the driver up for a second time, and then biked away.

The cops arrived instantly; one got into the passenger side and yelled “Drive! Drive! Drive!”

I cried out, “Can you please let me out?”

The cop responded, “Nope, sorry, YOU’RE A WITNESS.”

So off I went on a cop chase down 110th Street, having left my body somewhere in front of my building and dangerously close to dissociating.

They found the biker a few blocks away, and the driver refused to press charges against him. To this day I don’t know why, and I don’t want to assume or speak for him, but after the driver was checked for injuries and I was checked for shock/general confusion, the driver drove me back to my place.

I had friends who lived in an apartment four floors below mine, so I crashed their Valentine’s Day plans to have a panic attack. Peter came back the second his gig was over, and while it was an evening I couldn’t have made up even if I wanted to, it certainly bonded us.

It also cemented why I will never bother with this holiday again.

That being said (what a journey we just went on!), maybe you’re super into Valentine’s Day and that’s great for you. Maybe you have hot plans for Friday night, and are hoping those will turn into Saturday morning plans as well. Wink wink. (Sorry.)

Maybe you hate Valentine’s Day passionately but love celebrating love with your friends, and want to get everyone together for brunch.

No matter what you decide to do, these muffins should be part of the plan. They’re called morning glory muffins (so, like, the entendre can speak for itself) and they’re, well, glorious. You would maybe think that a muffin full of carrots and fruit would be meh, but you would be wrong because they taste fantastic and need to be in your stomach ASAP.

They’re v easy to customize, so you can sub in whatever fruits you like. Prepping the carrots and the fruit will take a few minutes, but after that they just hang out in the oven for 30 minutes and then you have muffins!

I sincerely, sincerely hope your Valentine’s Day is adventurous in the fun way and not the car chase way. If you have any crazy Valentine’s Day stories, let us know in the comments.

Love and meows,

Rina

MORNING GLORY MUFFINS

Yield: 12 muffins (plus 1 mama muffin, see note)

Active Cook Time: 15m | Inactive Cook Time: 25-28m | Total Cook Time: 40m

Category: Breakfast, Baked

Source: King Arthur Flour

Special Equipment: box grater, 12-cup muffin tin, paper liners (optional; grease the pan well if not using), cooling rack

Note: We ended up with enough batter to make one giant muffin a a small crock. If you end up with extra batter you can follow our lead and make your own mama muffin, or you can make two normal muffins.

Ingredients

½ cup raisins

2 cups all-purpose flour (we used white but you can use whole wheat as well)

1 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups peeled and grated carrots*

1 large tart apple, peeled and grated**

½ cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened both work)

½ cup chopped walnuts

⅓ cup sunflower seeds or wheat germ, optional (we left it out)

3 large eggs

⅔ cup vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla

¼ cup orange juice

Demerara or other large-crystal sugar, for topping, optional

* If you grate your own (which I recommend), give the carrots a good squeeze to get out as much liquid as possible. Otherwise your muffins will be baking for a LONG time.

**Same note as the carrots. You can also cube the apple instead of grating it to switch it up, in which case you don’t have to squeeze any liquid out.

Instructions

Prep: preheat the oven to 375F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners, or grease well with cooking spray.

Soak the raisins: place the raisins in a bowl and fill to the top with warm water. They’ll hang out and soak in there while you put the batter together.

Mix the dry ingredients & fruit: in a large bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt. Add the carrots, apples, coconut, walnuts and (if using) sunflower seeds/wheat germ.

Mix the wet ingredients: in a small bowl, whisk together the eggs***, vegetable oil, vanilla and orange juice. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Drain the raisins well, add in and stir until just combined.

***crack your eggs one at a time into a small bowl, and then add to the bowl you’ll put the wet ingredients in. This keeps any potential shells out of there, and is a great way to check if they’re kosher if that’s a concern.

Scoop and bake: scoop the muffin batter into your prepared tin - fill them up until they’re almost completely full. If using, sprinkle generously with the large-crystal sugar. Bake for 25 minutes, then check to see if they’re done by sticking a toothpick or fork into the middle - if it comes out clean, you’re good to go. If not, bake for 3 or so minutes and check again. Let them cool for a few minutes before letting them completely cool on a cooling rack.

To keep: these will keep in a tightly sealed plastic bag for a few days at room temperature, and much longer in the freezer.