These fresh and zesty citrus muffins are stuffed with lots of delicious fillings: orange zest, pineapple, cinnamon, shredded coconut, and nuts. The zucchini, freshly harvested from your garden, adds perfect moistness to these sweet, zingy muffins. Gluten Free, Dairy Free, can be Refined Sugar Free.
These are basically a tribute to my deep love for pineapple.
No, pineapples are not as amazing as peaches. You’ve heard me wax eloquent about the perfect peach, so we won’t get back into that. Though on the subject of peaches, I’m a little angry because this year I never found the perfect peach. Last night I gave up in frustration after biting into a rather mealy and stringy peach (the worst kind, and an insult to peaches everywhere). I couldn’t even eat another bite. If a peach isn’t perfect, it’s unacceptable.
But, yes, I did just promise not to wax eloquent about peaches. So, pineapples. Pineapples are pretty amazing because they are so citrusy and zingy but without the weird texture of oranges or mangoes. Pineapples are juicy and fresh and vibrant. And if you eat too many at once you’ll destroy your taste buds. Despite this, pineapples are pretty much my go-to college food. I’ll slice one up about once a week and store it in a bowl in the fridge, then put pineapple in basically everything: burritos, eggs (yes, eggs), stir fries, sandwiches, pizzas, guacamole, and so on. Or if it’s a hot day or I want a snack, there’s always a chunk of pineapple available.
So it’s a pretty obvious thing to put pineapple in muffins. Especially if they happen to be coconut citrus muffins.
I basically feel like I’m on a tropical island when I eat these. And you, too, can visit my island. Just give these moist, zingy little muffins a go and you will not be sorry.
- 1 cup cornstarch, potato starch, tapioca starch, or arrowroot starch
- 1½ cups brown or white rice flour, oat flour, or sorghum flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup shredded coconut
- ½ cup chopped nuts (optional)
- 2 cups grated zucchini
- 3 tablespoons freshly grated orange zest
- About ½ cup pineapple, chopped into ¼ inch cubes
- ½ cup honey, melted and slightly cooled
- 3 large eggs
- ½ cup olive oil or avocado oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ cup coarse sugar in the raw (optional), plus 1 tsp cinnamon and grated coconut for topping.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and line a muffin tin with muffin liners (or grease it well with olive oil, as I did).
- Whisk together the cornstarch, rice flour, cinnamon, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt, coconut, and chopped nuts. Stir in the orange zest, zucchini, and pineapple.
- Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients.
- In another bowl, whisk together the honey, olive oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until just combined (be careful not to overstir)!
- Scoop into the prepared muffin tins. Stir together the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the muffins. If you prefer not to use sugar, just sprinkle on a bit of cinnamon and add the coconut on top.
- Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean (a few crumbs are okay, just no streaks).
- Cool about 10 minutes before removing from muffin tin and serving.
Leave a Reply