My twins turned 32 on 30th March. Boy and girl, just three apart but they are like chalk and cheese, aasman aur zameen as the saying goes—- they understand each other totally and yet are so different. My daughter is like a social bee, making a zillions of friends and thrives in a noisy environment. My son on the other hand prefers to keep to himself and probably wouldn’t survive in a very busy environment.
Its a different kind of feeling, a feeling of pride, satisfaction, joy and happiness when a parent sees their child or children growing up into fine adults and venturing out into the wide world to find their own niche. My eldest one is only a year older to them so basically it was like having triplets. Each one is following his/her dream, end of 2017 beginning 2018 has been a year of changes where the three are concerned. The eldest moved to Bali with his wife to start out their life in the hot tropical island. Their small boutique hotel is under construction and should be ready at the end of the year. My daughter is now in Dubai with her hubby and her twin, my son has finally fallen in love.
When Sasmita announced the #138th theme as pineapples for the Foodiemonday/Bloghop group, I knew I wanted to bake using pineapple to celebrate the tweenies birthday. I already have an eggless pineapple cake, upside down pineapple cake on my blog. So it had to be muffins. I’ve had this recipe in my recipe book for eons but didn’t manage to try it out. So the right opportunity arose this week.
I used only honey as the sweetener and the pineapple I used was pretty sweet. If the pineapple was not sweet then maybe I’d have to add a bit of sugar. The muffins turned out a little on the brown side because of the dark honey I used. Perhaps next time will try and use lighter colour honey. Besides the look, the muffins were absolutely soft and delicious. They tasted even better the next day. The original recipe called for desiccated coconut but I took the risk and used fresh grated coconut instead. I’m glad I did. That’s what perhaps made the muffins extra soft. I used coconut oil, any excuse to get that oil in the tummy!
Here’s the recipe, check it out.
PINEAPPLE COCONUT MUFFINS
Makes 12
1½ cups plain flour (all purpose flour)
½ cup freshly grated or desiccated coconut
1 cup crushed pineapple (fresh or tinned)
1½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp soda bicarbonate (baking soda)
¼ tsp salt
1 egg
½ cup honey
¼ cup coconut milk
⅓ cup coconut oil
some desiccated coconut for topping(optional)
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Line a muffin tray with cake cups.
Sieve flour, baking powder, soda bicarbonate and salt into a bowl.
Add coconut and mix.
In another bowl add egg, oil, coconut milk and honey. Whisk till its all mixed.
Add the crushed pineapple and mix well.
Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture.
Mix till the flour is incorporated into the liquid.
Spoon batter ¾ full into the cake cups.
Sprinkle some desiccated coconut on top if you’re not going to ice or frost the muffins.
Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or till they become golden brown and are done.
To check if the muffins are done, insert a toothpick or fork into the middle of one muffin. If it comes out clean then the muffins are done.
Remove them muffins from the tray and let them cool on a wire rack.
Tips:
Next time I’ll try the muffins with 1 cup wheat flour and ½ cup plain flour.
Add nuts if you wish.
Replace coconut milk with any other milk.
You may want to check out the following pineapple recipes: