Quadruple Coconut Muffins

I really love coconut. REALLY, REALLY, REALLY love coconut. I think it is delicious. Coconut water, coconut oil, coconut flakes, chocolate covered coconut. All of it. I have not met something I didn't like that featured coconut. So when I decided to make muffins featuring coconut, I knew I was going to use as many forms of coconut that made sense. This, of course, lead to coconut oil, coconut flour, coconut yogurt, and coconut flakes. And trust me, it's all about the coconut with these delicious babies.

There are a lot of health benefits to coconut. I drink coconut water pretty regularly, especially after a hike, before or after a massage, just because I can. It's delicious and so very hydrating. I make my own coconut oil lotion by whipping it up with my stand up mixer, and adding a few drops of essential oils (usually lavendar because the two combined smell heavenly). It's natural and healthy. Yes, it takes awhile to get used to the oily aspect of it, but I have noticed that if I put it on right after I step out of the shower and pat myself dry, my skin eats it up and there's harldy any oil on my skin. I especially use this on my face, since I don't trust any other type of face product on my deliciate little face. I also put coconut in my mouth and swish it around for about 10 minutes. This helps whiten your teeth naturally, but it also helps you feel better if you feel like you're getting sick or are sick. It pulls all the bacteria out of your mouth, and trust me, when you spit it out, you will notice the bacteria in the coconut oil. It's amazing. I also use it for burns, cuts, scratches, or anything else. Needless to say, coconut oil is my go-to everything.

Of course I don't just use coconut on the outside of my body, I also consume it. Regularly. Whether it's making coconut muffins, coconut bread, or putting coconut flakes in my coconut milk yogurt. It's just good.

These muffins are easy to transport to office meetings, brunch, or just to move from your kitchen to the table to eat. I tend to cut the muffins in half and put some vegan butter on them. These are really, really, really good with lemon curd! I don't really like cold muffins, so I always heat them up after the first day. They just taste better, so stick them in the microwave for 20 seconds. It also helps the vegan butter melt and get into the pores of the muffin. :)

These are not sweet, and you can tell that by the amount of sugar that's in these babies. The coconut flour, coconut yogurt, the shredded coconut, the coconut oil... I think it all adds to the sweetness. It's subtle, which makes them a perfect breakfast. You can go into Starbucks and get a treat, and it is just packed with sugar. I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Quadruple Coconut Muffins
Yields a dozen


1/2 c. virgin coconut oil
3/4 c. gluten-free flour mix
1/2 c. coconut yogurt
1 tsp. xanthan gum
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. table salt
1 c. plain coconut yogurt at room temp.
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg at room temp.
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 c. sweetened (or unsweetened, your choice) shredded coconut, divided

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease muffin pan with coconut oil, or line with papers

Warm your coconut oil either in the microwave or in a small saucepan until it just barely melts.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, xanthan gum, and salt. Stir 2/3 cup of shredded coconut.

In a seperate bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, coconut oil, coconut yogurt, and vanilla. Stir this into the dry ingredients until just combined. Divide the batter evenly into the muffin tins. Sprinkle top of muffins with the remaining coconut.

Bake about 20 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the middle of a muffin comes clean.

Store in an airtight container for 4-5 days. Although, they usually don't last that long in our house.

Blueberry Scones

Well, as you could have guessed from my last post, it's only natural that I ended up making scones. Since spring time is coming, all the fruit I have been missing is coming back into season. We bought some blueberries a couple days ago, and I just knew that I was going to make scones. I just had to wait until I had the time. I feel like I am just as busy now as I was in Grad school.

We slept in Saturday morning, and when I woke up, I got straight to work on making scones. Which also explains why the pictures are so crappy. Sorry, I am trying to figure out the lighting here in the house for picture taking. Once it get's warmer, I am hoping to implement our garden into the pictures more, since we'll be using most of that produce for all our summer cooking/baking.

I used my flour mixture, which, in my opinion  is the best gluten-free flour mixture. Now, me sharing this with you is a big step, because I am kind of selfish when it comes to recipes. But I am trying to grow and share... and remember all the lessons you learn when you're a kid. ;) Anyway, the gluten-free flour mixture is a combination of 3 different flours/starches, and makes about 5 cups a batch. Which is perfect because I usually only use 1.5 cups of this flour when baking. Except with the scones, because they take a whopping 3 cups!

These scones are my speciality. It took me quite some time to really master them. To include secret ingredients (that I won't share here) to make them just the way I want them. There's a ton of variation to this recipe. You could use any type of fruit you want, except maybe the watery fruits like kiwi and mango, or you could just leave the fruit out, and add a 2 teaspoons of vanilla to it. Or, you could go super bland, and just do nothing. Your choice. The possibilities are endless with this baby.

The two of us each had three this morning, and are looking forward to tomorrow morning when we can have more. We took the lemon curd that I made the other night, and dolloped our scones with it. There are numerous ways to eat scones. I prefer to cut mine in half and put lemon curd on each half, while my partner likes to just dollop the lemon curd on the whole scone. I love the colour of the yellow and blue from the blueberries. It makes this delicious purple swirl of colour. And the lemon and blueberries just go so well together, I have a hard time making any other type of scone. :)

Kyrie's Gluten-Free Flour Mix
Makes 5 cups

4 c. superfine brown rice flour
1 1/3 c. potato starch (not potato flour)
2/3 c. tapioca flour (also known as tapioca starch)

Measure flour using a large spoon and scooping into the measuring cup, then level with back of knife. Do NOT use the measuring cup itself to scoop flour--this will compact flour and will end up with too much.

Combine all ingredients in a gallon-size ziplock bag. Shake until well blended. Store in the fridge until you're ready to use it.

Gluten-Free Blueberry Scones
Makes 12-16 scones depending on size you make

1 (6-ounce) container of plain coconut milk yogurt
3/4 c. oat milk (or your choice of non-dairy milk)
3 c. gluten-free flour mixture
3/4 tsp. xanthan gum
1/3 c. granulated sugar
2 tbs. double-acting baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 c. canola oil
1 container of fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking pans with parchment paper or oil.

Whisk together the yogurt and milk in a small bowl. Set aside.

In a larger bowl, whisk together the flour, xanthan gum, sugar, double-acting baking powder, and salt.

Add the milk and canola oil to the dry ingredients, as well as the blueberries. Mix until there's no more dry flour and everything is evenly distributed and combined.

Flour a work surface (I use a medium-sized cutting board) with a little bit of the gluten-free flour mixture. Take half the scone mixture and place on prepared surface. Pat into a 6 to 8 inch disk and cute into wedges, like you would a pie. Place the triangles on the prepared baking pan, and repeat with the rest of the dough.

Bake in oven for 15 minutes, or until they are lightly golden brown. Eat right from the oven, and dollop lemon curd or jam of your choosing on top.

Store in ziplock bag for 2-3 days (if you have left overs).