These are pretty simple to make, and should have taken me much less time than it did. My problem is that when cooking or baking, I tend to halve the recipes since I'm usually cooking for one, unless it's a special occasion. I do fine until about halfway through, when my absentmindedness starts bullying my mindedness, and takes over. I forget that I'm halving the ingredients, and put in exactly what the recipe reads. Then I realize my mistake and have to go back and double everything else. (Did I mention I failed math a few times in high school?)
This is most likely some higher power telling me I shouldn't perform calculations while I'm in front of the oven, or perform calculations period. Now I have a lot of muffins, and will most likely press them upon unassuming friends and relatives.
So, a message to the aforementioned friends and relatives. If you see knocking on your door bearing baked goods, be aware that the generosity and good-will is just a pretense. I'm just really bad at simple math.
On to the recipe...
This I adapted from Cooking Light. The coconut milk makes the muffins denser and less dry and cakey than if I had just used milk. Any dry fruit would work in place of cranberries, but I think cranberries have the best sweet/sour combination to go with the coconut.
Coconut-Cranberry Muffins
Makes 1 dozen
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sweetened dried cranberries (I used Craisins, although the ones you can get at markets like Whole Foods and Trader Joe's tend to be more plump and juicy. But Whole Foods isn't a block away from me, like the regular supermarket is, and beggars can't be choosers.)
2/3 cup light coconut milk
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg (or two small eggs)
2 teaspoons sugar
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Combine first four ingredients into a large bowl, stirring with whisk. The recipe says to stir in the cranberries with the flour mixture, which I did, but now I think it's a better idea to mix them in when the dry and wet ingredients are combined. Reason? The flour gets stuck in the tiny ridges of the cranberries and refuse to budge. You don't want loose flour on your cranberries. Mix them in later.
Combine the coconut milk through eggs into another bowl and whisk. Add wet ingredients to the flour bowl and mix well with a spatula.
Line the muffin tin with muffin cups. Spoon the batter onto the cups and sprinkle the tops evenly with the 2 teaspoons of sugar.
Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until the centers of the muffins spring back when you touch them (lightly.) Remove muffins from the pans immediately and place them on a wire rack to cook.
Eat the rest of the Craisins because you know you can't resist them.
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