This is the first installment of Muffin Mondays – each Monday during MoFo, I’ll post a brand new muffin recipe. Carb lovers, rejoice!

Sometimes, Sunday night rolls around and the thought of heading back to work the next morning really bums you out. You’ve had a great weekend, taking long walks with your sweet dog and spending quality time with your even sweeter significant other. You just want that blissful state of relaxation to continue, and visions of your desk and the work that awaits just fill you with dread. So you head to the kitchen, sure that a bout of baking will cure your woes. And the result – muffins, in this case – will accompany you to work, giving you something delicious to nibble when it’s time for elevenses (or even second breakfast).

Rooting around in the fridge, you discover remnants and leftovers – half a can of pumpkin puree, a holdover from the time you made pumpkin spice lattes, sits next to a third-full jar of coconut milk, languishing on the shelf ever since you made a sauce that only needed 1/3 cup. And there’s that bag of mixed dried fruit you purchased at the drugstore weeks ago when you were on a road trip and needed a quick energy fix en route to the Renegade craft fair in Chicago. What to do, what to do…

Fruitlicious.

Fruit Medley Muffins
(makes 6 good-sized muffins)

1 C whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 C white whole wheat flour
1/2 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ginger

1 flax egg (1 T ground flax plus 3 T warm water)
1/2 C coconut milk
1 T oil
2 T agave
1/4 C sugar
1/2 t vanilla
2 T pumpkin

1/4 C chopped Medjool dates
1/4 C chopped apricots
1/4 C chopped prunes

Preheat the oven to 350° and lightly grease a 6-muffin tin.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flax into the warm water and set aside. In a large bowl, sift all the dry ingredients together and mix well. Add the wet ingredients to the flax mixture and stir well. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into the well. Mix until just incorporated, then fold in the dried fruit. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin. Bake for 22 – 25 minutes or until a thin knife inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Substitution notes: For a lower-fat muffin, you could substitute your favorite alt-milk for the coconut milk. If you don’t have pumpkin puree, I’m sure applesauce would work equally well. Finally, feel free to substitute any dried fruits you have in the house. Medjool dates add a really delicious caramel flavor, but any dried date (or no dates at all!) will do.

As long as you don’t forget to pack a few of these hearty snacks in your lunch box, you’ll have a sweet, mostly healthy treat to enjoy with your morning cup of tea or during your mid-afternoon “Is it time to go home yet?” slump. The pumpkin adds a nice smoothness to these muffins, and the dried fruit and flax fills them with fiber to keep your innards clean. Is there a better way to start a week than with clean innards? I didn’t think so.

What’s your favorite muffin recipe? Do you bring homemade treats to work? Do you have suggestions for a muffin I should create?

P.S. Only two more days to enter my giveaway!