Fruity Coconut Muffins
If you’re a fellow New Zealander like me, you’ll know about our nation-wide obsession with feijoas. If you’ve never heard of (or tried) a feijoa before, they’re a sweet green fruit, similar in look to a passionfruit, where you scoop out the flesh to eat it (although I’ve been known to eat many an organic feijoa skin and all). If you’re in finding out more of the nutritional benefits of feijoas, I’ve written about these before in this delicioso Feijoa Crumble Cake post here. In summary, they’re a fabulous source of vitamin C, antioxidants, folate and fibre, they fall from the trees freely from autumn to winter, and they taste simply gorgeous.
No Feijoas? No problem
It’s coming to the back end of feijoa season now here in NZ, but if you’ve still got a few bags to use up (fresh or frozen), these muffins are for you. And even if you don’t, this brilliant egg, dairy and refined sugar free recipe will become your go-to template for any fruit-based muffin you can dream of. Apple, pear, plum, kiwifruit – you name it, it works brilliantly.
Why you’ll love these Fruity Coconut Muffins
these lovely and light muffins are…
- The perfect breakfast on the run,
- A great mid-afternoon snack with a cuppa,
- Take just 10 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to bake,
- Low in total sugars with no added refined or free sugars, and
- A delicious way to use up the last of your feijoa stash (or any other suspect in your fruit bowl)
Enjoy these muffins! I’m planning on making a fresh batch this weekend, with the last few cheeky feijoas we have left in the freezer. So grab a muffin tray, get the oven on, and let’s deep dive into some serious muffin making.
Pontificating about plant-based milk
The other star of this recipe is coconut. I love using coconut based products in cooking, as they’re more heat stable than some other potential alternatives. For that reason, I’ve chosen to use coconut milk as my liquid, coconut oil as my binder, and coconut flakes to top. Coconut also has a wonderful natural sweetness to it which means we don’t need to add much sweetener to these at all, just a half cup of dates and our one cup of feijoas – just the right amount of sweetness.
I’ve used coconut milk in this recipe, which works perfectly with our feijoas. I love making my own nut and seed milks, but sometimes (often), time just does not allow! For this reason, I’ll always have a container of ready made milk in the fridge, for pouring over muesli or bircher, adding to hot drinks, or making baked recipes like this one. I personally love soy milk in my tea, as I really enjoy the rich and creamy flavour. Almond milk I love in my smoothies, for its delicate nutty flavour, while coconut I find perfect for cooking. It’s so easy to choose a plant-based option when there are so many fabulous plant-milks on the market these days.
Back to our lovely muffins, they’re juicy, fluffy, and overall just plain delicious. If you haven’t made a good muffin for a while, these are a fabulous opportunity! The smell wafting out of the oven when they’re baking is enough to get anyone out of bed.
Want more fruity treats?
If you make these fabulous Fruity Coconut Muffins, I’d love to see your versions on Instagram! Share your shots, tag me @begoodorganics and #begoodorganics in the caption, and tag @begoodorgniacs in the image too so I don’t miss you from my feed. You can also share your pics over on my Facebook page under my latest post here, or leave me a comment below.
Enjoy these muffins this weekend – I know you will. And til next week, stay happy and well.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 3 tbsp water
Dry
- 2 c wholemeal spelt flour or for a gluten-free option,3/4 c buckwheat flour, 3/4 c brown rice flour + 1/2 c tapioca flour
- 1/2 c dates
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Wet
- 3/4 c Unsweetened Coconut Milk
- 1/4 c coconut oil melted
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 c diced feijoa
- 1/2 to 3/4 c coconut chips
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar to top (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 170°C / 350°F and grease a 12-cup regular muffin tin with extra coconut oil, or line with biodegradable paper liners.
- Blitz the chia seeds in your food processor until they are semi ground (note that your processor probably won’t fully grind them, but that’s ok). Combine the ground chia seeds with water in a bowl, whisk together, and set aside to thicken.
- Next in a bowl whisk together the wet ingredients and set aside.
- In your food processor, add the dates and blend until they form a powder (it may be slightly sticky depending on how dry your dates are)
- Combine the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the chia seed mixture with the wet ingredients.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Be careful not to over mix. Fold in the diced feijoa.
- Evenly divide the batter into the muffin cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Sprinkle with the coconut flakes and bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. If desired, sprinkle lightly with the remaining sugar. Cool for 10 minutes, then place on a wire rack to finish cooling.
- Eat, love and enjoy! These muffins will keep in a sealed container in the cupboard for up to a week, and you can also freeze them.
Recipe Notes
- For a gluten free option, you can use 3/4 c buckwheat flour + 3/4 c brown rice flour + 1/2 c tapioca flour, or 1c buckwheat flour + 1c brown rice flour + 1 tsp guar gum, instead of the wholemeal spelt flour. Or your favourite GF flour mix.
- You can also use flaxseed, if you don’t have any chia seeds handy.
- If you’d rather avoid using your food processor, replace the dates with 1/4 c coconut sugar, and add to the recipe along with the dry ingredients.
- If you don’t have feijoas, feel free to replace with any other seasonal fruit you have – peaches, apricots, plums, pears, apples, persimmons, all work beautifully. This recipe will become your go to fruit muffin template!
- These muffins are just lightly sweetened, which I personally love. If you want to add a little extra sweetness to these (though they don’t necessarily need it), simply add a tablespoon or two of coconut sugar to the mix.
- To amplify the flavour of these fruity muffins even more, you could add a few drops of cinnamon essential oil to the mix. If you’d like to learn more about the incredible therapeutic benefits of plant-based essential oils, and how you can use them in your life and food, check out my introductory workshop here.
Did You Make This?
Tag @begoodorganics
I can’t wait to see your creations!
