Banana-Coconut Muffins

I've been making banana bread the same way for over a decade. It's one of the first things I ever baked (which for me means college-age, not preschool....), and I've dallied with other banana bread recipes since, but I always come back. I've been making it a lot again recently, though in muffin form (I want to eat it over several days versus gobbling it up in a day or two, and I think muffins keep a bit better). I was inspired to add some coconut recently, and I think I've come up with a new favorite. It's on the sweet side - I think it would make a good cupcake with the addition of some cream cheese frosting - but that's how I roll. You could probably cut the brown sugar back to 1/2 C without changing the texture too much.

Banana-Coconut Muffins
loosely adapted from 1001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes

• 1/4 C coconut butter (aka creamed coconut)
• 1/4 C applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 C shredded unsweetened coconut, soaked in 1/4 C skim milk (soak overnight if possible) - could use coconut milk here, too
• 3/4 C packed light brown sugar
• 1 C mashed banana (2-3 bananas)
• 1 3/4 C AP flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

Put coconut oil, applesauce, eggs, soaked coconut mixture, and brown sugar in large mixer bowl and beat until smooth. Add banana and blend at low speed to combine; beat at high speed 1 to 2 minutes.

Combine remaining ingredients in small bowl; mix well. Mix into batter.

Pour batter into muffin tins (which will be pretty full). Bake until golden (the toothpick test is useful here), about 20-25 min.

makes 12 muffins