Slightly Hilarious Raspberry Coconut Muffins

Although I do not have a sensitivity to wheat (albeit not a major one) I have been looking for a way to diversify my kids' diet, because between the sandwiches and pretzels and pasta, etc that my kids eat they are eating way too much wheat. I have been nervous to journey into the world of gluten free baking, but my research into the health properties of coconut inspired me to try baking with coconut flour. This was the recipe that I found at The Cheeseslave.

Coconut Flour Blueberry Muffins
Makes 6 muffins
Ingredients:
3 eggs (pastured)

2 tablespoons butter, grass-fed

2 tablespoons coconut milk or whole milk (I used whole raw grass-fed milk)

3 tablespoons honey (raw honey if possible)

8 ounces organic fresh or frozen blueberries (please do not use conventional blueberries — it’s important that they are organic) *

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla (organic, additive-free)

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1. Blend together eggs, butter, coconut milk, honey, salt, and vanilla.

2. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and thoroughly mix into batter until there are no lumps.

3. Drain blueberries and dry with paper towels. Add to batter with a spoon.

4. Pour batter into muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 C) for 15 minutes.

* If you can’t find organic blueberries, I would use banana or some other fruit instead. It is important to buy organic berries.

Did the recipe as called for....except....I wanted to use coconut oil instead of grass fed butter. I had grass fed butter, I just really wanted to use my new toy, coconut oil! And I didn't have any blueberries, but I did have frozen raspberries. I only used 6 ounces or so because it looked like way too many raspberries to batter, perhaps raspberries are less dense than blueberries. I also used milk instead of coconut milk. And I ended up baking them a little longer than 15 minutes because they didn't seem done.

Well here is the beautiful, glorious, finished product that I turned out.

And now let me pull out the camera a little....

I had some trouble with these muffins. And I have a feeling that the changes I made to the recipe made it come out so poorly. Apparently you do need to follow baking recipes. My bravado was bound to catch up to me some time.

First off, they didn't seem quite done, so I cooked them closer to 18 minutes. But then the bottoms all got brown, and the middle of the muffin still seemed like it wasn't totally done. (Baking tip--if you bake with lightly colored bake ware, your baked goods will come out better, dark pans attract more heat, over baking your foods. This time I used my silicone muffins cups and placed them on a dark baking pan) I also think the raspberries had much more water than the called for blueberries, so they just sogged up the muffins making them undone in the middle. And because there is no gluten, alot more egg is needed to make the flour rise. So the texture of my muffins was more like a coconut fritata than the texture of fluffy grains. I really think that was caused by the excessive water content too. And for whatever reason the muffins did not come out of the cups. Maybe they really weren't done?

I did, however, like the way they tasted. They were nicely sweet, mildly coconutty, but it was not overwhelming. The outside part of the muffins felt like a grain flour muffin on the mouth, but the insides were very soggy. Thank god the recipe only made 6 muffins, which means I can make another batch and correct my mistakes without having to choke down twelve overbaked-yet-raw-in-the-middle-muffins. The kids were okay with them, but they weren't begging for more....I will do this again, and I will get it right.

Cheeseslave, please don't hate me. I'll make you proud yet.