Raspberry Coconut Muffins

I haven’t been to IKEA for a long time until recently, which was a really fruitful trip. I didn’t know that they actually have a section on baking utensils so I was really thrilled to discover it! I wonder if anyone notice that they have this really cute 12-hole muffin pan, which has rather deep and slender holes in the shape like cylinder. Matching paper liners are sold separately. The designs of the liners were limited though, in fact, I only saw one stripe design that comes in three different colors (blue, green and purple) in a box.

Needless to say, they made it to my collections of pans and cupcake liners and I couldn’t wait to use them. I’ve been dreaming of raspberry muffins for sometime. Raspberry isn’t a common fruit to use in muffins as opposed to blueberry, and it is not widely available in the bakeries. To satisfy my craving, I have to bake them.

Muffins can be plain and boring at times, so I always like to have two or more main ingredients in it. So apart from raspberry, I added coconut for an exotic flavor. I have to say, the muffins came out exactly the way I wanted. Tart and exotic with a tangy crumb that was the result from the addition of buttermilk. However, do note that the muffins don’t last more than two days due to the addition of coconut. But I don’t think you will have a problem with that as they are so good you would easily wipe them out in no time.

Raspberry Coconut Muffins  Makes 12

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg, at room temperature

2/3 cup golden caster sugar

70g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2/3 cup dessicated coconut

1 cup raspberries plus 12 as topping, fresh or frozen

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 175C. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with paper liners.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
• In a separate medium bowl, lightly whisk the egg. Slowly whisk in the sugar, butter, buttermilk and vanilla until well combined.
• Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, fold gently using a rubber spatula until no flour streaks but still lumpy. Do not need to smooth out the mixture.
• Gently fold in the dessicated coconut and raspberries.
  
• Scoop the mixture into prepared muffin cups, filling almost to the rim.
• Top one raspberry on each muffin.
  
• Bake for about 30 minutes or until the muffins are golden brown on top.
• Cool the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes before removing from the pan.