Blueberry coconut muffins

Last week, we went to my in-laws’ house for a lovely visit with a delicious bonus — my father-in-law has many blueberry bushes (which he wisely protects from the birds) that were bursting with ripe berries. While Owen and Keith picked for the instant gratification, I planned ahead and more of my berries made it in the container than in my mouth.

A couple of weeks ago, I made an amazing blueberry buckle that was the beginning of a momentous baking discovery for me. When I combine my sprouted spelt flour with a bit of arrowroot, the texture is what I’ve been missing. Instead of being a bit crumbly and seeming dry (but not really … it’s a weird phenomenon), the arrowroot “glues” in the moisture and keeps the muffin, cake, what have you, together as if there’s gluten. Arrowroot works like a pseudo-gluten when combined with the spelt and I have so been enjoying the texture.

Anyway, Owen and I were on our own while Keith went to Comic-Con and we couldn’t wait to bake something with all of those blueberries. I had been eying this recipe for strawberry coconut muffins, so I figured they’d taste good with blueberries too. I did a little search on the internet — as I tend to do — and I’m so glad I did. Although I ended up goig it mostly on my own, I have to credit this loaded blueberry coconut muffin recipe for the brilliance of using coconut milk as the liquid in the recipe. I can’t say I would have thought of it on my own and it made a world of difference in the recipe … so coconut-y and dare I say creamy?

When your five-year old says the likes of, “Every time we make muffins they need to be this recipe,” then you know you’ve done something right. And it’s really great cooking for such an appreciative crowd!

Blueberry Coconut Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cup sprouted spelt flour
• 1/4 cup arrowroot powder
• 1/3 cup palm sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/3 cup (5-1/3 tablespoons) melted butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 cup fresh blueberries (though I’m sure frozen would work just as well, even though your muffin would end up purple)
• Turbinado sugar for sprinkling

Combine all dry ingredients in a bowl, and all wet ingredients in another (leave out blueberries and Turbinado). Add wet to dry and mix until just moistened. Fold in the blueberries. Fill greased muffin tins and then sprinkle Turbinado sugar on the top of each muffin. Bake at 400 degrees for about 18-20 minutes.

Then serve the muffins warm to your five-year-old and bask in the glory of his praise.

Clacked by Debbie McDuffee
on Jul 31, 2010 @ 10:05 EST5EDT