So I’ve had this bag of coconut flour in my pantry for ages now, and I’ve never really known what to do with it. In general, recipes containing the stuff aren’t too easy to come by!
I bought it awhile ago on a whim, drawn by the high protein and fiber content and intrigued by the idea of intensely coconutty baked goods. Since today I had a bunch of ripe bananas ready to be used, I decided to incorporate them both into muffins. Without a recipe to guide me, I jumped right in and miraculously came up with something pretty awesome.
Banana Coconut Muffins
*vegan and gluten-free, makes about 10 muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 flax egg (1T ground flax meal + 3T water)
- 3 large bananas, mashed
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 3/4 cup agave nectar
Preheat the oven to 375*F. Prepare the flax egg in a small bowl by whisking flax and water with a fork, then set aside to gel. In a large bowl, combine coconut flour, shredded coconut and baking powder. In a separate smaller bowl, mix together bananas, canola oil, and agave, then stir in flax egg. Add wet mixture to dry, and combine well. (The mixture will be thick.) Spoon batter into muffin pan either prepared with cooking spray or lined with paper cups. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until tops begin to turn brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for at least an hour before removing from pan.
Baking these made my entire apartment smell like sweetened coconut, and the taste was just as incredible. They’re dense, coconutty and very moist (apologies to those of you who hate that word), with a slight crust on the outside.
I also really loved the coconut flakes sprinkled throughout it. It gave them tons of texture and taste.
I’m planning on freezing these as easy snacks and breakfasts for the next few weeks. Something tells me they’d be incredible with coconut peanut butter…
Is there anything that’s been sitting in your pantry for ages, just because you don’t know how to use it? I also have bags of garbanzo bean flour and vital wheat gluten that I keep swearing I’m going to use…I should get on that.
