The Monday after spring break has its ups and downs. In my case, having stayed home with my kids for the better part of ten days, I’d be lying if I said I weren’t a little grateful to have them headed back to school this morning. Like, if I hear one more “He hit me and I did NOTHING!” I might need to pack up and move to Aruba. On the other hand, I do treasure the concentrated time home with them doing fun activities like park play dates, library visits, and living room picnics.
And after almost a whole week or waking up without an alarm, it was a little hard to get out of bed this morning.
That’s partly why I made these Coconut Almond Muffins yesterday–to trick myself into the motivation needed to get up and go about regularly scheduled life. With the hearty texture of ground almonds and tropical sweetness of coconut, they’re a tasty treat that’s worth hauling myself into the kitchen for.
What I didn’t anticipate, though, was that my ten-year-old son (who took a sudden interest in cooking over spring break) would make me coffee, pour me a glass of water, and plate me two of these muffins–complete on a tray for breakfast in bed! Since our spring break was somewhat derailed by the bickering so common to school-aged kids, we’d had a long talk last night about service and kindness. Something must have sunk in.
I guess the only problem is that I didn’t actually have to get out of bed to eat them!
Coconut Almond Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 c. all-purpose flour
- 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
- 2/3 c. white sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 c. butter, melted
- 1/2 c. almond milk
- 1/2 tsp. almond extract
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 c. slivered almonds
- 1/2 c. shredded unsweetened coconut
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and grease 12 muffin cups.
- In a large bowl, combine all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Make a well in the center and add melted butter, almond milk, almond extract, vanilla extract, and eggs. Stir until just combined.
- Coarsely grind the almonds: pulse almonds in a small food processor or zap a few times with an immersion blender until broken into small pieces. Mix almonds and coconut into batter.
- Divide batter between 12 muffin cups and bake in preheated oven 14-18 minutes. Let cool and store in an airtight container.
Notes
