Saturday, May 29, 2010

Sweet Coconut Muffins (gluten and dairy free)

Well, we made it through the first phase of our move today, and yes I still made a batch a muffins this morning. I know, I'm crazy! Well, you see, there's a story. We had many wonderful friends helping us through the move and I wanted to make sure we were feeding these lovely people. So, I checked out some grocery store muffins just to make things convenient, and I just couldn't get over how, ugly, dry and expensive they looked. So, I convinced myself to use up some more ingredients at home and make this my last batch of muffins in my old kitchen. Thankfully they turned out wonderfully and I also made another batch of blueberry muffins, and a large batch of chocolate chip cookies. So, it was a very productive baking morning in the kitchen from 6-8 am. I purely enjoy it, so no complaining here.
The great thing about a hearty and moist muffin like these is that they can last you all week. If you are looking for a breakfast alternative for on-the-go days you could make a 12 muffin batch on a weekend day and have enough for the coming week to have every morning. Or if you are like me... I will probably share a few, enjoy one with a cup of tea and then maybe save the rest for a few days thereafter...Or of course you could make a few batches and freeze them and have them easily accessible to busy mornings during the week. Muffins are some of my favorite baked-good friends. You get all the goodness in one little cup-filled-muffin-tin. So perfectly wonderful, easy, and really mess-free. You should not underestimate the muffin, it is going places. Just make sure you take advantage of it's fabulous qualities and try a new homemade recipe today...yum!


Sweet Coconut Cherry Muffin Recipe (makes 12 muffins)
1 cup of sweet sorghum flour
1/2 cup of tapioca flour
2 cups of shredded coconut flakes
1 1/4 cup of sucanat (or palm, coconut, or beet sugar)
1 ts. of xanthan gum
2 ts. of aluminum-free baking powder
1 ts. of ground nutmeg
1/2 ts. of sea salt
2 farm fresh eggs
1/3 cup of light olive oil, or coconut oil works too
1/2 cup of orange, lemon or grapefruit juice
2 overly ripe bananas smashed
1/2 cup of dried cherries (fresh could work too)

Mix all of the dry ingredients together first in a large mixing bowl, and then add the eggs, oil and juice with the smashed bananas, mix well and then finally add the cherries last and let sit for a few minutes to blend well and then dish with a 1/4 cup or large ladle spoon into 12 muffins tins. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 22-25 minutes. Or until golden brown. Make sure the middles and cooked thoroughly and the tops are crispy and risen. This recipe will make 12 muffins, so double if you want to make more.

These muffins turned out yummier than I expected... so good things happen when you experiment... most of the time ;) I hope you enjoy these with a a peaceful morning this holiday weekend, or at least find find space to enjoy life for all it's blessings! Much love to you today!

7 comments:

  1. Wow, that a lot of work between 6-8am.
    Is there another substitute for Xanthum gum?
    perhaps guar gum or agar agar ?

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  2. You could most definitely use guar or agar gum as subs. And, I would even dare to say you could omit it as well and it would probably turn out just fine. I just had some xan gum and thought I would add it to make sure it all stuck together well, but I think the banana, sorghum and coconut would do a fine job by their own in keeping things together. Enjoy!

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  3. I think you totally need to bake for me. You and I have such similar tastes! Coconut, cherry...yum!

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  4. I just found your blog, looks great! You're using unsweetened coconut shreds here, right?

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  5. Yes, unsweetened coconut shreds is what I used, but really sweetened coconut flakes would work too, I just prefer the unsweetened...

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  6. this sounds good. Something new to try as well. thanks for sharing this recipe.

    Simon

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