Tuesdays With Dorie: Coconut Tea … Muffins
Before I start this post, I have to mention that this is my 101st post here at Confectiona’s Realm. I never thought I’d get this far, but it’s been a great ride. Thanks to all of you who read my blather.
I’m back to Tuesdays With Dorie. I can’t live without some carbs in my life (although I’ll have to pass on next week’s delicious-sounding choice, because this week is Passover and it didn’t occur to me to bake ahead), and I really miss being forced to write every week.
But we didn’t need a whole bundt cake.
So, herewith, my coconut tea muffins!
I cut the recipe in half, which yielded 24 mini muffins. I left the amount of coconut the same, though, because I love coconut. I really, really love coconut.
I toasted the first three-quarters of a cup of sweetened shredded coconut, because toasted coconut is one of the joys of my life. But when it came time to add the coconut to the cake batter, I decided I didn’t want the crunchy texture in the muffins, so I went with the stuff straight from the bag. (Which, tragically, left me with three-quarters of a cup of toasted coconut. Woe is me!)
Everything else was pretty straightforward: no difficult techniques or unusual ingredients. I baked the muffins for about 25 minutes, but my oven temperature is completely random, so your mileage may vary.
And the adorable little muffins were delicious: moist, not too sweet, and perfect with coffee. I put one chocolate-covered espresso bean each in the bottom of four of them, and in retrospect I wish I’d added the beans to more. I wasn’t sure how’d they’d take the heat, but they were magnificent. Highly recommended.
Oh, and you know what else is good? These muffins, drenched in still-warm homemade chocolate syrup. Life is very, very good sometimes.
I even got artistic for a change:
As I said, this was meant to be a bundt cake. Check out the pretty ones to be found on the other TWD bakers‘ websites, and if you want to give it a shot yourself, buy Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or visit Carmen Cooks, where Carmen will helpfully provide the recipe for you. See you next week, with my special Passover not-cake recipe!
March 30th, 2010 at 1:09 pm
What fun!
I love these little muffins. Pretty swirl too!
March 30th, 2010 at 1:20 pm
Now that is what Im talking about..yum..I love that you made muffins and the chocolate topping..well lets say you really did good on this one!
March 30th, 2010 at 3:12 pm
Awesome muffins with the bean hiding inside and chocolate on top!
I made minis, too. You know what sounds good with your extra toasted coconut, a streusel on top of these. Mmm.
March 30th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
I love the mini muffins, I also like the chocolate idea! This was a fun recipe.
March 31st, 2010 at 11:43 am
Love the artistic touch! And, you can’t go wrong mixing chocolate with coconut! I have the bundt cake in the oven right now. Can’t wait to try it.
March 31st, 2010 at 2:12 pm
niceeee! these muffins look so good and im totally loving the addition of the espressso beans and chocolate sauce! even though they’re tea cakes (or muffins!) i think they would go great with coffee =)
March 31st, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Ooh how lovely! I love these mini cakes you made. Thanks for baking with me this week!
March 31st, 2010 at 6:59 pm
I love espresso beans…what a great idea!!
March 31st, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Your espresso bean and chocolate sauce look like great additions! Coconut and chocolate is such a good pair!
March 31st, 2010 at 9:21 pm
I love your coconut tea mini-muffins, especially with the surprise in the middle! =) The coconut flavor must have been more pronounced since you didn’t decrease the amount for half a recipe, I might add more next time. Chocolate and coconut, what a perfect pairing!
March 31st, 2010 at 9:31 pm
Love the minis! Oh, and the chocolate! What a good idea.
March 31st, 2010 at 9:46 pm
Congrats on 101 posts! Keeping all the coconut was a good call, I wanted more coconut flavor than it had; the muffins look great with the chocolate.
April 1st, 2010 at 9:12 am
I like the muffins…especially like them with chocolate! well done
April 2nd, 2010 at 7:58 am
Congrats on your 101st post: time goes by so fast!!!
Your muffins look absolutely amazing!!
April 2nd, 2010 at 8:14 am
I like the muffin idea! Yours look really pretty with the chocolate-espresso glaze. Thanks for commenting on my blog, Cafe Lynnylu.
April 3rd, 2010 at 8:17 pm
101 – wow – you don’t look it!
Great post and great looking muffins. I love the idea of them – I need to make more muffins – or recipes INTO muffins!
April 4th, 2010 at 10:07 pm
congrats on your 101st post! That’s awesome!
I love that you did muffins and dang, that chocolate sauces sounds delicious!
i made the coconut tea cake today and will post on Tuesday. (I added grapefruit juice and zest! YUM!)
April 5th, 2010 at 2:30 am
Yes! Chocolate syrup makes everything better. Love your mini muffins.