The following is a guest post by Amy Roskelley, co-founder and blogger at Super Healthy Kids. She is the entrepreneur behind the colorful line of MyPlate dishware that helps parents teach their kids about balanced nutrition. She lives in Utah with her husband, three children, and dog.
Hi! I’m Amy from Super Healthy Kids, and I’m so happy Lisa invited me to share one of our family recipes with you.
Creating healthy recipes that kids love to eat is what we do. We know that with persistence and creativity, even the pickiest kids can learn to enjoy fruits and vegetables. The message I always have for parents is this: it’s worth it!
Every Saturday morning, my kids and I make muffins. It’s been a family tradition for more than ten years. Most Saturdays (especially now that I have teenagers), we’ll double the batch so we can eat them throughout the week.
Leftovers get tossed in a freezer bag and defrosted overnight for a fresh homemade breakfast on school mornings.
In the 10+ years we’ve been testing muffin recipes, these Pineapple Coconut Muffins have become one of our favorites. They’re light and sweet with pineapples and honey, and they makes us feel like we’re on a tropical island. (Tiny umbrellas not required, but aren’t they cute?)
We make these muffins with virgin coconut oil for a rich coconutty flavor and for healthy oil that benefits kids’ brain health. The pineapple supplies antioxidants and vitamin C, and the whole-wheat flour provides fiber and B vitamins. We’re all about balance, so we love to serve these with a hard-boiled egg and even a veggie. (Veggies for breakfast: try them, if you haven’t already!)
Thanks for following along, and I hope you and your kids enjoy this recipe! Visit us at Super Healthy Kids to find more colorful recipes, year-round meal plans, and family feeding wisdom.
Pineapple Coconut Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
- 1 cup crushed pineapple
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/3 cup coconut oil
- 1/4 cup whole milk (or you can sub nondairy milk)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Place paper or silicone liners in a 12-count muffin tin and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and coconut. Add pineapple and stir, completely coating the pineapple in flour.
- In another mixing bowl, combine the egg, honey, oil, and milk.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir to combine.
- Divide the batter into the muffin tin (each well will be about ¾ full). Sprinkle a few extra coconut flakes on top, if you like.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of a muffin pulls out clean.
- Remove from pan and cool before serving.
Notes
2. Coconut is not a tree nut. However, if you have a tree nut allergy, consult your doctor before consuming.
3. We recommend organic ingredients when feasible.
Well gee whiz my muffins did not bake well! They rose up and browned nicely but were wet inside and not cakey at all.
I only used buttermilk instead of whole milk as a substitute and Unbleached all purpose flour instead of whole wheat.
They taste good but I think I get a failing grade for these.
I’m sorry to hear they didn’t bake well for you. We always recommend whole wheat flour so that it stays within the real food rules. Could it possibly be an issue with altitude where you’re at? Some of our readers tend to have to adjust their baking time and settings for this reason. – Nicole
Wow. These muffins baked up so fluffy and delicious. I pretty much followed the recipe, except I messed up a little by adding the pineapple to the wet ingredients. The muffins still turned out great with the pineapple incorporated nicely through the cake. I see a double batch of these in my future! Thank you.
My family loved these. Will be making them again.
These were AMAZING!! We loved them, flavor was fantastic! I used 3/4 white whole wheat, 1/2 cup oat flour, and 1/4 cup quinoa flour. I added 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tsp vanilla. So, so good!
Any substitute for egg?
These were fantastic! I made a few adjustments after reading the comments. I added a 1/2 tsp. of salt and I drained the crushed pineapple, but decided to add about a TBL of the reserved juice. My muffins DID NOT fall apart, but were still very moist. I’m at a high elevation too so baked good are always a challenge! I also baked at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes, and then moved them to the lower rack for the last 15 so they wouldn’t brown too quickly. I recommend checking them often. Great recipe, thanks!
Lovedddd this muffins flavor! I substituted unsweetened almond milk and added a pinch of salt as some suggested. I used parchment liners and silicone and unfortunately both were crumbly and stuck a little. If anyone could solve this problem please post as Ive noticed they crumble for a lot of us.
These were (note past tense) the most delicious muffins we have ever eaten, however, they completely fell apart when picked up into a big, (super moist and delicious) crumbly mess. We just devoured the crumbles while leaning over a plate. Any idea why that happenned? I make tons of muffins and never have this problem. I noticed that this recipe does not have salt in it. Was that intentional? I was wondering if that could have caused the problem. Usually, muffin recipes have equal amounts of baking soda and salt along with the baking powder.
We made these for weekend guests. The batch made 12 regular-sized and 5 minis, which were fun for the kiddos. Deliciously moist and flavorful! A huge hit, and a new family favorite, for sure!
What DOES the recipe call for, fresh or canned pineapple?
What did you use when you were coming up with/finalizing the recipe?
Thanks!
Hi Debbie. we used canned crushed pineapple!
Delicious recipe! Have made these muffins multiple times in the past week! A family favorite!
I mad these per the instructions, but I used skim milk (which is what we had in the refrigerator) and fresh pineapple. They were INCREDIBLY DELICIOUS. I had to freeze some so my husband and I didn’t eat them all in three days! The muffins turned out so moist that they “fell apart” we had to eat them directly from the silicon liners because they didn’t stay together. Any one else have this issue?
I had the same issue, but loved every crumb lol.
I made these this morning and they were moist and yummy! The directions did not indicate whether the pineapple was drained or not. I went by the picture which didn’t look totally drained…So I spooned the pineapple out of the can keeping some of the juice. I didn’t have wheat flour, so I used spelt flour. The batter was thinner than my usual muffin batter, but they baked up fine. I did bake mine at 400…I find muffins turn out better at that temp. I do feel they could have used a pinch of salt. I will definitely make these again.
Thanks for the feedback Annette!
I am a diabetic and am on a carb diet. Would it be possible to add the carb info to these delicious sounding recipes. I would really like to try your recipes, but afraid I’d get hooked on them and my sugar would rise.
Carol, this is a tool I use to count my carbs when they aren’t included in a recipe. Usually pretty accurate.
https://happyforks.com/analyzer
I can’t wait to try these! Can I use skim instead of whole milk?
Sure! Skim milk should work.
Do you know how I can substitute coconut flour for whole wheat?
Coconut flour cannot be substituted with a 1:1 ratio to regular flour because coconut flour is more absorbent. You can google to find out the changes necessary.
Hoping to try making these with Gluten free flour. Using it is new for me, I assume I can use same amount?
I should have looked at other gluten free comments first! I’ll try it and see how it turn out!
Coconut oil is solid at room temperature. Is the 1/3 cup you use solid coconut oil or should I melt it first. If you would kindly respond to my email I would appreciate it as I would like to try these. Thank you. Lisa
Hi Lisa- I used liquid (melted) coconut oil! I usually do in baked goods.
What is nutrition count per serving?
Hi Theresa, We haven’t calculated that yet, but you can for free at http://nutritiondata.self.com/
This recipe states ‘muffin tin’, thats quite a bit bigger than ‘cupcake tin’ correct? Which should I use/
Hi, can I use gluten free 1:1 flour? These look so yummy!
I haven’t tried it with a flour substitute yet. Sorry Laura!
Ok thanks! I have 1:1 gluten free flour I’ll try it and let you know :)
Thoughts on how to do this gluten free? In still learning the best replacements for the flour when looking at a recipe like this. Thanks!
I was just scanning the comments hoping to find an answer to this question. I’ve used Bob’s gluten free flour as a substitute for other recipes. I am wondering if almond flour would work here. Any try it?
Is the baking soda because of the acidity of the honey? If so, should I omit the baking soda if substituting granulated sugar for the honey? I can’t wait to try these, I have a pineapple cottage cheese muffin recipe, which I love but my kids do not, hopefully this recipe will win them over.
The acidity is from the pineapple! You should still need the baking soda.
I literally started having hunger pangs halfway through the post. It looks amazing and I bet it also tastes delicious too. It is the perfect dish to cook up in this season. I can’t wait to try it . Looking forward to reading more delectable recipes in the upcoming posts.
It is perfect for summer! Hope you like it.
Hi,
Nice article, thanks for sharing, keep up the good work
thanks!
Have you tried it with fresh pineapple? I don’t have any tinned in the house.
Yes! Fresh pineapple would work great!