Sunday, April 25, 2010

Banana Coconut Muffins



When my eldest daughter started kindergarten this year I was initiated into the world of trouble that seems to accompany supplying a school snack. I want to send something my child will eat (and she has many opinions about that), I want it to be a quick thing to pull together in the morning or the night before and I want it to be healthy. Add to that the fact that I don’t want the snack to generate a lot of garbage and a simple snack becomes a big pain in the butt.

I have come up with a number of combinations that work, but what gets the biggest "thumbs up" from my daughter is when I bake something like a muffin or biscuit and send it along with a piece of fruit. She likes the Darby Cakes and Blueberry Muffins and last week I made Banana Coconut Muffins from the Barefoot Contessa Boy, that was a hit.  .


They solved the "what's for my snack?" dilemma for the week.  Bake them on Sunday night and the week is pretty much set. The muffins have a nice banana flavour and a good hit of fruit, with 4 bananas in the recipe. Also, I can control the portion size by baking mini muffins.  Add in some whole wheat flour or a little wheat bran and you up the fiber. The amount of sugar in the recipe can also be cut back a bit if you desire.  And, the muffin wrappers go in the compost when you are done, so no garbage!  Those are the kind of snacks I like.



Banana Coconut Muffins
adapted from The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook
To add more fiber, swap a 1/2 cup of the all purpose flour for 1/2 cup of whole wheat or wheat bran.  Also, you can reduce the sugar by 1/2 cup if you desire a less sweet muffin.

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 pound unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 extra-large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup mashed ripe bananas (2 bananas)
2 medium bananas diced
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin pan with paper liners or grease the cups well if you are not using liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to combine. Add the melted butter and stir to combine. In a separate small bowl, combine the eggs, milk, vanilla, coconut and mashed bananas. Add this to the flour-and-butter mixture and blend all ingredients together but do not overmix.
Fold in the diced bananas. Scoop the batter into the paper liners or prepared muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the tops are brown and the centre springs back when lightly touched. Cool slightly and remove from the pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy.


Next Post: Zucchini and Wild Leek Fritters.

6 comments:

  1. These sound so yummy! I wish my mom had packed me homemade treats as a school snack. How sweet :D

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  2. I love banana bread, cake and muffins! These look very tasty, I think I will try adding coconut to my next banana creation!

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  3. These do look delicious and 100 times healthier than store bought muffins!

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  4. I've got two questions!

    How many muffins does this make?

    and

    When do you add the coconut to the recipe??

    Thanks!

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  5. Hi Megan,

    This recipe makes a lot of muffins. It depends on the size of your muffin tins, but I can usually get about 2 dozen. And, thank you for pointing out that ovesight. The coconut is added at the same time as the mashed banana mixture.

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  6. Just tried this recipe!! Absolutely delightful! Kids love it, too! The consistency is just the perfect amount of tenderness with a slight bit of crunchy bit of coconut. My muffin tins I filled about 3/4 full and I used paper liners. Mine were done in 20mins and I turned pan halfway through to make sure even baking. Thankyou so much for sharing. This will definitely be going into my regular baking rotation! ~ Amanda-From-Canada~

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