Coconut muffins

I recently bought a young coconut. After we drank the coconut water inside, I was left with the question of what to do with the coconut meat. It was too soft to grate, and its flavour was quite subtle -- not that exciting to eat on its own. But cut into chunks and baked into muffins, it was amazing.

Even though it was quite a lot of work cutting into the coconut, I am thinking about getting another one just so I can make these muffins again. (The coconut water was great too -- it wasn't the flavour that blew me away, but the scent, which was surprisingly floral.)

I used this recipe with a few modifications*. (I should take a moment to praise this recipe -- it is terrific. I say this as someone who has made many failed muffins.) I used some cooked and pureed pear for the cup of fruit in the recipe, and added the chunks of coconut plus some Dutch chocolate sprinkles.

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* I reduce the oil to 1/4 cup, use regular whole wheat flour, reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup and increase to 3/4 if necessary, replace the egg with a 'flax egg' or just extra water, and use soymilk + vinegar for the buttermilk. So far the fruits and vegetables I've used to great success are: pumpkin, pear, apple, banana, and most surprisingly, a mixture of banana and pureed kiwifruit.

Drat. Another failed reading quiz.

So I have a houseguest for a few days, and I decide to make smoothies and muffins for breakfast.  Whaaat?  No oatmeal-in-rice-cooker?  I know.  I know.  A break in the routine, if you can imagine.

So I'm substituting away, feeling pretty clever making carrot-walnut muffins (local carrots!) out of Molly Katzen's low-fat banana muffin recipe.  Extra leavening, some salt... but darnit, I added oats rather than making oat flour.  My houseguest was sleeping, so probably a good thing I didn't grind oats, but I hated to screw up something I thought was going so well.  Muffins were good, but a bit dry.  More raisins next time!

Sweet Potato, Meet the Muffin

So I'm still with the muffin thing.  These I didn't love - they contain evaporated milk - and the tin can alone was enough to throw me.    They taste so rich to me because of that milk.  When I bite into them and think "brioche," I'm inviting all sorts of criticism.  Whatever.  They're rich and bland.  Where's the ginger?  

I be knowin' the Muffin Man

Behold!  Yet another recipe from the Moosewood goes low-fat.  Cornmeal and spelt and APF (it's true)... but more importantly, prune puree.  My local Wholefoods doesn't sell it by the jar, so I bought a 1 cup package of them and whizzed them up with some orange juice concentrate after simmering the mix in 1/2 cup water for about 10 minutes.  Muffin baking has been part of my routine the past few weeks, and I have to say, it makes my lunches so much more appealing.