Coconuty coconut muffins

One day I opened the fridge. There was too much in there – all the Christmas leftovers, some few-days-over-the-due-date things, and small bits and pieces that needed to be cooked. I took everything out, cleaned the fridge, and left everything I wanted to get rid of on the table. I stood there and thought: “What to do, what to do?” The kids were finally off to school (3 weeks inside during rainy weather = 6 weeks inside) and I was home alone, just me, the cat, some e-mails to answer, a magazine to edit and my leftovers. As always – I decided to go with muffins. Milk free coconut muffins, and although I am not big fan of coconut and all vegan, these were a hit. For an even better experience – make the coconut caramel and dip them into that before putting them in your mouth.

Ingredients

120 g coconut oil
130 g honey
2 medium eggs
230 g Happy Coco vanilla coconut yoghurt, room temperature*
180 g ‘550’ or pastry wheat flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate soda
pinch of sea salt
5 cardamom pods, seeds crushed
130 g juicy dried cherries and cranberries
coconut flakes

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 200°. Line the muffin tin with muffin papers or use a silicone mold. Melt oil with honey on a very low heat until it is melted and then cool it a bit.

Beat the eggs with a fork in a bowl. Add the yoghurt and butter and mix. In a separate bowl, add flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cardamom and mix. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the moist ingredients and mix, just until incorporated – don’t over mix. Add the fruits and mix.

Fill the muffins 2/3 full, sprinkle coconut flakes, place in the centre of the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. When done, remove and cool 5 minutes in the pan. Transfer to a cooling rack. Cool completely.

* I used this one and Harvest Moon yoghurt, and it works great with both.