The Love or Hate Ingredient
Coconut is one of those ingredients you can love absolutely, hate with a passion or have no clue about, because you don’t use it for anything. Fortunately, for me, I love coconut, as an ingredient and add it in almost everything I cook, from rice to beef to cakes and desserts.
If you belong to the ‘clueless group’ then you might want to try exploring the idea of cooking with coconut milk or shredded (desiccated) coconut. If this is too much for you, then start by eating candy bars like Bounty or Hershey’s Mounds or Almond Joy. Another good way to explore eating coconut is by trying coconut drinks like: Iced Coconut Mocha Cappuccino, the numerous Coconut smoothies, Coconut Cream Hot Chocolate, Coconut Latté or the rum-based, cocktail, Piña Colada.
Those who belong to the ‘hate with a passion’ group gave various reasons for hating coconut from not being able to stand the flavour to hating the texture of shredded coconut, which they said tasted like straw, to just hating the smell of coconut or being allergic to it.
Then there is the group ‘used to hate coconut,’ that has been slowly converted by persuasion or just plain curiosity. They have now become lovers of coconut.
Today I want to share the recipe for Coconut Sultana Muffins. Like all other muffins recipes, it’s easy to prepare and worth the trouble taken. I hope you enjoy this recipe.
Always remember to assemble all ingredients, before you start.
Sultana Coconut Muffins
Preparation time: 15 minutes; Total cooking time: 20 minutes; Makes: 12
Ingredients
- 250g (2 cups) self-raising flour
- 1 teaspoon ground mixed spice
- 150g (1 cup) chopped sultanas
- 50 g ½ cup coconut
- 125g (½ cup) butter
- 125g (½ cup) sugar
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 180ml (¾ cup) milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 410°F (210°C). Brush a 12-hole, medium muffin tin with melted butter or oil.
- Sift flour and spice. Add sultanas and coconut, stir until combined. Make a well in the centre of the mixture.
- Melt butter and sugar in a small pan over low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Combine eggs and milk in a bowl.
- Add the butter and egg mixtures all at once to the flour mixture. Mix with a metal spoon of fork until just combined. Do not over mix. The mixture should look quite lumpy.
- Spread mixture into prepared tin. Bake 20 minutes or until golden. Loosen muffins with a flat-bladded knife. Transfer onto wire rack to cool.
Points to note:
- Please note that oven temperatures are given as a guideline only. You may need to add or reduce the suggested temperature depending on your oven. I baked the muffins at 425°F (220°C) for 20 minutes.
- I always weigh ingredients, especially the flour and butter. You can use cup measures, but please note if you scoop flour directly from the bag you will end up with 150-185 g of flour instead of the recommended 125g. I suggest you spoon the flour into the cup, heaping it up over the top, then slide a knife across the top to level off the extra. Be careful not to shake or tap the cup to settle down the flour or you will have more than you need. You can also sift the flour first then scoop. My best advice: Please weigh the ingredients.
- You can use all-purpose flour and add 1 teaspoon baking powder for every 125g (1 cup) flour.
- Variations: you can add a cup of mixed fruit instead of sultanas.
- Last Updated: 6 December 2014
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Will try this today with my little one he just loves to bake and we have all the ingredients here so no need to pop to the shops.. I love cooking baking even moisturising my skin with it well coconut oil not the raw coconut 😂 but I’ve never tried making muffins with sultanas and coconut.
Hi Britney
My son also moisturizes his skin and hands with coconut oil. I just use plain old vaseline for my hands. I love cooking with coconut and use it in everything form meat, to cakes to veggies. Please give me a feedback!
Liz
I hope you enjoyed the muffins. Have a great Sunday.
Liz
Most of your recipes are simple , easy but looks amazing…keep it up
If your aim is to encourage others to cook, then recipes must be simple and easy to make. I’m not really a fan of complicated recipes because being a mum can be so busy and stressful. Thanks for visiting my blog and thanks for liking/commenting on so many of my posts. I wish you a wonderful week!
Nice recipe. I just love the flavor and smell of coconut.
I adore coconut, so that makes the two of us. Thanks for leaving this comment!!!
Hey Liz, can you please tell me what is Sultana….is it a fruit, dry fruit…? I am not able to find that.
Will post a recipe for Coconut cookies soon….more and more coconut for both of us !!
I have given you a link to about.com. Sultanas are dried fruits (grapes to be precise) follow this link here:
http://britishfood.about.com/od/glossary/ss/What-Is-The-Difference-Between-Raisins-Sultanas-And-Currants.htm
I love coconut too. I’m so excited to have met you!!!
Hi Liz, thanks for liking my blog post. Your blog is great! I may have to “borrow” your format for recipes. I’m in the love coconut group. Been making gluten free pancakes with coconut flour lately for my kids (and me). They loved them. I had the leftovers next day with almond butter. Quite yummy. Keep up the great writing.
Hi Tim, thanks for stopping by too. You can “borrow” the format, thats what blogging is all about. I love coconut too, I just made a coconut cake for the blog, not yet posted it though. The pancake with almond butter sounds great, I must give it a try. Hope to see more of you in future. Have a wonderful week!
This is what my mom would love! Bounty is her one and only love in the chocolate world. Just wondering, do you use sweetened dessicated coconut here or are they the dried kinds? We get so many types here. Would love to make this for my mom when I see her next.
Hey Jayne thanks for taking time to browse my site. I really appreciate. I used the unsweetened desiccated coconut for the recipe (shredded). If you do make it for your mum, kindly give me a feedback. Thanks so much, once again!
omg. This looks so.devine. I can’t wait to try these!!! I find that coconut makes baked goods super light and fluffy (and adds such a great flavor!)… Yum!!
Thanks for stopping and for having a conversation with me. I love chatting with people from all over the world. You are welcome here anytime!! I have been to your blog and I still have a image of the chocolate cake in my mind. Must have been delicious!
Hi, thanks for liking my blog post, I love coconut and I’m so happy this recipe also contains UK friendly measurements and ingredient names, as so often I have to spend time looking up measurement
Thanks for visiting my blog too. I love visitors from the UK. Hope to see more of you!
Omg I am in the ‘clueless’ group for sure, I have never really had an interest in Coconut. I have to try this recipe and see. I am always abit cautious about trying new things though!
If you really want to enjoy cooking you must be ready to try all sorts of combinations and new things too. I always try so many new things. Sometimes I get disappointed but most of the time the results are good. When I do get disappointed, I just pass on and say “that doesn’t work”, but at least I know it doesn’t work! thanks for visiting my blog.
Hmm, I’ve never put coconut in muffins I’ve made before but I’ll definitely have to try and see how they turn out.
I love coconut so it works for me in everything. Like I said, It’s a love or hate ingredient. Thanks for your support!
Wow sultana and coconut muffins. That’s new I’ll try it out and give you feedback
Thanks for your support!