Banana Muffins with Toasted Coconut and Macadamias

 Aloha ‘oe, aloha ‘oe… I used to sing that phrase over and over when I was a little girl. I didn’t know the rest of the words to the song, so I would just hum the tune until I got to the “aloha ‘oe” part. I’d wave slowly and longingly to imaginary people as I walked quietly away.

In the fogginess of my childhood memories it seems to me that I had once seen a beautiful young woman on the Lawrence Welk show singing that song and waving to the audience as the show ended. If I’m not mistaken, she was also joined by other singers, all singing slowly and somewhat solemnly as they wished the audience a fond farewell until the next week when once again, Lawrence and crew would be filling my grandparents black and white TV screen with champagne bubbles and singing. Or maybe it wasn’t Lawrence Welk. Now that I think about it, he always ended his shows with a different song; something where the singers said goodbye in several different languages. But wherever it was that I saw the young woman sing that Aloha ‘Oe song, it was in black and white and the young woman had a beehive hair-do and she looked very earnest when she sang.

Bananas. It seems a fitting word to describe both my mental state and my need to use up some very ripe fruit on my counter-top. As I was thinking about what to do with those very ripe bananas, that Aloha ‘Oe song started going through my head which naturally lead me to start thinking about Hawaii (never been there, but I still think about it) which then lead me to think about a tropical-ish sort of banana muffin.

After some seriously grueling pondering, a wave of enlightenment broke over me one evening as I was heading for the…er…throne room. Bananas, coconut and macadamias would taste spectacular together. I thought about adding pineapple to the muffin, also, but then I saw a picture of a banana muffin with pineapple in it and I quickly changed my mind. I’m a very visual person and when I see an ugly picture of something, I do one of two things: 1) fixedly stare in horror, or 2) run away. Since I ran away from the picture of the muffin with the pineapple in it, I decided that it would be best to skip the pineapple. I kept the coconut, however, and toasted it. And threw in the macadamia nuts; after I toasted them, too!

There was also one more genius thing that I did…I used coconut milk in place of all of the milk and most of the butter that I would put in regular muffins. I’m doin’ the happy dance cuz I’m so smart.

/

Print Recipe

Banana Muffins with Toasted Coconut and Macadamias

The complimentary flavors of toasted coconut and macadamias are perfect for these banana muffins. You'll be reminded of the tropics with each bite.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time50 minutes mins

Servings: 14 muffins

Calories: 270kcal

Ingredients

• 1 cup shredded coconut + extra for topping muffins
• 1 cup macadamia nuts, rough chopped
• 2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ cup white granulated sugar
• ¾ cup coconut milk, do NOT use lite
• 2 tablespoons butter, melted
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup well mashed ripe bananas, about three medium

Instructions

• Prepare a muffin tin either by spraying the cups of the tin with cooking spray or lining with paper muffin cups. If using paper muffin cups, give those a quick spray also with the cooking spray.
• To toast coconut and macadamia nuts, preheat oven to 300-degrees F. Put the coconut and macadamia nuts on a small baking pan. Toast in oven for approximately 15-20 minutes until lightly toasted. Be careful not too over brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool while preparing remainder of muffin ingredients.
• If you haven't already done so, move the oven rack to the middle of the oven and increase the oven temperature to 375-degrees F.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda. Set aside.
• Shake the can of coconut milk well to redistribute the creamy part of the coconut milk which will have separated from the lighter milk portion.
• In a medium bowl whisk together the sugar and coconut milk to dissolve the sugar. Whisk in the butter until well incorporated.
• Whisk in the egg and vanilla, and then the mashed bananas.
• Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold together just until mixed - no stirring. Over-mixing will cause a tough muffin because it will develop the gluten too much.
• Gently fold in the toasted coconut and macadamias.
• Divide the batter equally between 12-14 muffin cups. I like a well rounded dome on my muffins, so I fill the tins about ¾-⅞ full. With the size muffin tin that I use, I get 14 muffins out of this batch.
• Sprinkle with coconut, if desired.
• Bake for about 15-20 minutes until light golden brown. Muffins are ready when a toothpick inserted in the middle of one of the muffins comes out clean.

Notes

Recipe by Terri @ that's some good cookin'

Nutrition

Calories: 270kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 28mg | Sodium: 247mg | Potassium: 228mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 95IU | Vitamin C: 2mg | Calcium: 45mg | Iron: 2mg

/