I’m finally up and about a little and starting to feel a bit better. Don’t worry though, I’m still going to take it slow this week. The positive thing is though, it feels like a treat to do just about anything after you’re sick. My first kitchen act was to make these Vegan Whole Wheat Lemon Coconut Muffins.
I find lemon baked goods to be cheery. Honestly, I needed a little treat after weeks of juice, soy yogurt and a few bites of whatever Cheryl brought home in the evenings.
Lemon coconut muffins have been one of my favorites since I lived in Brooklyn. I used to pick up one on my way to work almost every day. This was a long time ago and believe it or not, I actually lived where they consider to be a hip area now. When I was there, it was full of Italian grandmothers instead of hipsters, but it was close to the city.
You could use an all-purpose gluten-free flour to make them gluten-free, and technically they have no added oil. I used coconut butter which is made from 100% coconut. If you don’t use coconut, you can try substituting applesauce or pumpkin puree.
I used coconut sugar, and you could try using vegan white sugar or even stevia. You will have to make adjustments to the batter to accommodate your changes.
If you’re like me, you don’t have a jar of coconut butter laying around. I took about 1 cup large flake coconut and put it in my food processor. Then you just process, taking breaks and scraping in between until it gets smooth. You can get detailed directions at Vegan Family Recipes.
Whole Wheat Lemon Coconut Muffins
Ingredients
dry
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup finely shredded dried coconut
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed mixed with 4 tablespoons warm water
- 1/4 cup coconut butter
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar or vegan white sugar
- 1 cup unsweetened nondairy milk
- 1/4 cup lemon juice about 1 large lemon, juiced
- zest of 1 large lemon
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon oil or 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put muffin liners in a 12 muffin pan.
- Mix the dry ingredients together in a small mixing bowl and set aside.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl add the flax seed mixture and coconut butter. Mix with a spoon until creamy, then add coconut sugar and mix well.
- Add the milk, lemon juice, zest and lemon oil to the wet mixture.
- Add ½ the dry mixture to the wet and mix until incorporated. Repeat with the last ½ of the dry mix.
- Spoon into muffin pan, there should be enough batter for 12 regular-sized muffins.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until a fork comes out clean and the top is a tad bit dry.
Nutrition
Jamie says
Wonderful! I love lemon and coconut and these look and sound wonderful!
Kathy Hester says
Always glad to find a fellow lemon lover! You are very kind to say they look wonderful, I am the queen of brown foods!
Betsy @ Desserts Required says
Lemon IS cheery! So glad you are feeling better and back in the kitchen…even if it is slowly! 🙂
Kathy Hester says
Thank you!
Sveta says
This recipe looks delicious!!!! I am planning to make it today or tomorrow and was wondering can I substitute ground flax meal for chia seeds? I have golden roasted flax seeds and when I ground them they smell horrible.
So I was wondering if I could use chia seeds instead?
Thanks!
Kathy Hester says
I have not used chia eggs yet, but Google says you can. Here’s 1 place to get some info: .
I typically use 2 tbl water per 1 tbl flax seed, it looks like you might need some extra liquid for the chia seeds.
Joan says
If I sub applesauce for the coconut butter, would I use the same amount?
Kathy Hester says
That’s where I would start. After you make them a few times you may change the amount to suit you.
Christine McMahan says
These sound great. Wondering if I can use Earth Balance instead of coconut butter? Also if you do use the coconut butter do you have to soften it since it is so solid?