Recipe: Spiced Coconut Kiwi Muffins

Disappointing fruit sparked the idea for these muffins. Kiwi is one of my favorites. A few weeks ago they were on sale, so purchased about eight of them. What a bad idea.

I let them sit for a while, hoping they would soften up and get ripe. It was taking a while, so I just tried one. It was horrible!

They never ripened. But they didn't completely go bad either. They just sat there starting to wither, deflate, and generally looking tired and sad. I wasn't eating them and neither was G.

It became apparent that the only way these kiwis were leaving the apartment was if I threw them away or found a way to cook or bake with them. I searched for some kiwi recipes, but wasn't too interested in what I found. So I decided to freestyle it and made up the whole recipe.

I'm starting to know the proportions of what's needed for baking the basics, so I decided to chop up the kiwis and throw them in some muffins. The spices give these muffins a little kick and the coconut adds a slight crunch, so these are good wake-me-up morning muffins. Here's the recipe below.

Spiced Coconut Kiwi Muffins
(makes a dozen)
INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup softened Smart Balance (butter or margarine)
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup finely chopped kiwi (about 5 kiwis)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1/2 cup graham flour
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup vanilla rice milk

INSTRUCTIONS:
I'm not one for formal baking instructions. When I say baking from scratch is easy, I mean it. What does it take for me to want to bake? It has to be fun with room for flexibility. Usually I add the Smart Balance, sugars, and egg together in a bowl, combine, then add the dry ingredients, combine, then add the rice milk at the end. Don't stir too much, just until the ingredients are combined.

Maybe it makes a difference to some how they are combined, but I'm a fairly good baker and don't see it. If you want, dump everything all at once in the bowl and combine. Try it! If you don't like the results. Try it differently next time. Experiment. We all can find our baking comfort level.

If you bought a muffin mix in the store, basically it would be all the dry ingredients in the package, plus maybe some preservatives, then you would add your own liquidy ingredients.

Also, don't make baking hard by trying to stick with each and every ingredient if you don't have them in the house. Use what you have. That's how I came up with this recipe. I do not believe that any recipe is ever final.  A recipe can always be changed. That's the beauty of baking! Plus the finished results! : )

Put pretty liners in a muffin pan. Pour the batter into pan. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes. Insert a toothpick to see if they are done. It should come out clean. These didn't brown much on top, but they are very moist and good. Enjoy!



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