food 4 tots

Coconut banana muffins

Coconut Banana Muffins, Coconut Muffins, muffins, toddlers, Food-4Tots, baking, children, kids

 

My hubby and I are great fans for coconuts but our 6 year-old son is definitely not. Early this year, he tasted steamed nian gao (年高, a sticky cake served during Chinese New Year) coated with fresh coconut flakes for the first time. Within minutes, he threw up. Whew! that was scary! It made me wonder if the taste of fresh coconut flakes is really that terrible to him. Until now, I still couldn’t figure that out.

 

Beside this particular incident, my son still eats coconut if I play the “camourflage” game well. All of my previous recipes that include either coconut milk or desiccated coconut (such as power packed oat bars, coconut butter cookies, banana muffins and steamed pumpkin muffins) were well received by him. Not a bad achievement though. Maybe it’s time to stop the hiding game and take a bold step for a change. So for this recipe, I decided to double dare him with more coconuts (coconut milk plus desiccated coconut) and even topped the muffins with extra desiccated coconut. Will I succeed? You bet!

 

coconut banana muffins, coconut muffins, muffins, toddlers, Food-4Tots, baking, children, kids

 

This muffin recipe was originated from Daily Delicious. As these muffins are super easy-to-make, I actually baked them three times within a week and shared some of them with my “external testers”. After taking into consideration their kind feedback, I made some slight modifications to the recipe to suit my personal taste bud.

 

Unexpectedly, the modified recipe yields a very satisfactory result! The muffins are absolutely awesome as they have the right balance of sweetness, texture and taste! It’s the kinda coconut banana muffin I would die for! They tasted unbelievably delicious and packed with strong aroma of coconut. The desiccated coconut toppings, when baked, add a lovely crunchy and fibrous texture to it. Another important ingredient that contribute to the success of this recipe is banana. It blends perfectly with coconuts in baking. Banana doesn’t only enhance the coconut flavour but also provides a moist texture to the muffins even if they are left overnight. When my picky eater first saw the coconut toppings on the muffins, he was quite reluctant to eat it. After much persuasion, he agreed to try a tiny bite. And the verdict is he loved it! After his first sampling, he even asked for more. “Coconut isn’t that bad after all.” he commented. Hooray!! One step closer to achieve my mission!

 

This recipe is using mixing method, so you can easily whip up these muffins by hands with the help of a balloon whisk and a spatula. As long as you pay close attention to the tips I mentioned in the recipe, I can assure you that your muffins will turn out great even you’re a novice in baking! They are great to be added to lunch boxes or packed to office as teatime snack. Why not treating your kids (and yourself) with some tasty coconut banana muffins!

 

Get the recipe with step-by-step tutorial at PAGE 2 BELOW.

 

coconut banana muffins, coconut muffins, muffins, toddlers, Food-4Tots, baking, children, kids

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59 Comments

  1. Lovely flavor and presentation — those cups are just too cute 🙂

  2. Joanne says:

    I’ve heard somewhere that kids need to taste something 5 times before they learn to like it. Perhaps that is true for your son? One taste of these and I’d be in love!

  3. These look so cute LK! Love the muffin cups as well 🙂

  4. Ali says:

    Wow your muffins look great, got me craving for them. Love the blog, nice photo 🙂

  5. may says:

    can i use fresh coconut milk and grated coconut?

  6. Priya says:

    Thats a beautiful and absolutely elegant muffins..

  7. mycookinghut says:

    Lovely! I am a great fan of coconut, I could imagine how tasty this combo is!

  8. Ching @ LCOM says:

    I love the combination of flavors and the shot of muffins and cups. 🙂

  9. Ellena says:

    Lovely presentation and I can almost sell the coconut and banana fragrant from here 🙂

  10. As usual, your food styling is really great! It sure looks delicious.

  11. tigerfish says:

    Your efforts to make sure your kid accepts a variety of ingredients/food are worth commending! Yes, 5 times, 10 times and I have even heard 12 times!

    Lovely photos and presentation too!

  12. Meg says:

    Hi,
    Thanks for sharing the recipe! I made them yesterday, my toddler and hubby loves them 🙂 http://dreamersloft.blogspot.com/2011/10/coconut-banana-muffin.html

  13. MnYfoodtalk says:

    nice picture with clear instruction. thanks for sharing!

  14. Donna says:

    Wow! What a fabulous blog ~ so happy I discovered you. I love cooking with kids and I’m going to be a regular here!

  15. noobcook says:

    They are so pretty! I’m hungry for one :p

  16. Coconut and bananas are a match made in heaven I love the little cupcake holders you used!

  17. Ling says:

    Yay, i have too much dessicated coconut leftovers and now I know what else I could make with it! 😀

    I’m tempted to add some fresh mango juice to your recipe as coconut-banana-mango combination works great in popsicles 😀 I shall try your recipe first before tweaking it if I feel adventurous 🙂

  18. Me too, I LOVE coconut… however when I was small, I didn’t like that flaky texture at all. I forgot since when I started to love it. I really think the first photo’s food styling is amazing. Cups, spoon, muffins..everything is so balanced! LOVE IT!

  19. Chris says:

    What a coincidence – I also baked coconut cupcakes last Saturday.

  20. Christine says:

    Hi Foodie, Your Coconut banana muffins recipe has been selected to be featured in a Recipe Guessing Game. Please share the following link with your friends and fans. To play, go here: http://knapkins.com/guess_games/70?source=blog Congrats again!! 🙂

  21. Lyn says:

    I’ll be attempting these tml, they look do yummy, I couldn’t resist!

  22. jennafer says:

    So yummy! Made these for my 18 month old, and she loves them as much as I do.

  23. Grace says:

    I just tried these. Mmmm yummylicious! And easy to make. Thanks for sharing! I replaced butter wt virgin coconut oil. Give it a try, very nice! ;D

    • food-4tots says:

      Grace: Thanks for sharing your kind feedback. I’m still looking for coconut oil. The one I found was quite a big bottle which I don’t think I can finish using them. Do you have any good brands to recommend and where to buy them? 😉

  24. Grace says:

    I got mine from an organic shop in KL.
    http://shop.justlifeshop.com/mobile/default.aspx#P416
    It smells and taste very good. I’ve been using it to make your pumpkin steamed muffins, this coconut muffins and granola bars, salads, drinks etc.
    The shelf life is quite long.
    Let me know if you need help to get from here?

    • food-4tots says:

      Grace: Thanks for the info and your kind offer. I love Just Life Shop. Had been there for many times even before I shifted to SG. During my last KL trip, I saw a new organic shop at Bandar Utama selling cold compressed coconut oil. As it was in a glass bottle, I didn’t buy. Still searching for one over here.

  25. D says:

    Can you convert the metric measurements to US? We have a 4 year old and 2 year old. The 4 year old is picky and I want to venture out and introduce new creative foods, instead of the same staples he usually eats. Also what is “castor sugar”?

  26. […] also made some banana-coconut muffins, with the addition of some Heath baking bits to the batter and the top of the muffins. Delicious, […]

  27. Ee says:

    Very nice looking muffins indeed.

    I’m a newbie to baking. So, I’m going to ask a really dumb question- How do you prepare the muffin cups?

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