Melbourne chef Karen Martini describes the gorgeous carrot based muffins in her recent cookbook entitled, “Home”, as “super moist” and although this may not be the most creative description, it’s right on the mark. I altered her recipe slightly adding coconut to the combination of carrot and pineapple and together they impart a fantastic fresh, sweet flavour with every succulent bite. There is not a lonesome dry, crumbly bit anywhere in these muffins. 

I was a little rushed this afternoon so I made a speedy ad-hoc icing that I spooned over each still warm muffin before racing out the door to do the school pick-up – a daily exercise that tests just how prompt and patient a parent can be whilst wrangling an energetic 20 month old up the hill and through the school gates. Karen’s original recipe lists a velvety smooth cream cheese based icing and can be found in her aptly named, family friendly cookbook mentioned above. She uses fresh pineapple, which I did not have on hand and instead successfully substituted the canned variety. I also omitted the walnuts (allergy) and included coconut and oats and also left out the cloves which I tend to find a little overwhelming unless teamed with something savoury such as lamb. 

Moist and Moreish Carrot, Pineapple and Coconut Muffins

Ingredients to make 16 muffins
220 grams plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt flakes
175 grams brown sugar
2 extra large eggs
90 ml olive oil
400 grams finely grated carrot
1 x 440 gram tin of crushed pineapple, drained well in a sieve and juice discarded. 
40 grams shredded coconut and 40 grams rolled oats
finely grated zest of 1 orange plus the juice of half the orange. 

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees on a conventional setting and place the muffin liners into the tin. 

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, olive oil, carrot, pineapple, zest and juice.  

Add all of the dry ingredients and using a mixing spoon, stir until just combined. 

Spoon into the prepared muffin liners and place in the oven for 20 – 25 minutes until they are golden and have risen. 

I left the muffins in the tin to cool down and when they were just warm to the touch, I spooned over the icing and sprinkled on some extra coconut. 

My Ad-hoc Icing

In a bowl or jug, add 1 flat tablespoon of unsalted butter and pour in 50 millilitres of boiling water. Using a fork, whisk until the butter has completely dissolved. Then squeeze in the juice from the other half of the orange left over from the muffin batter. Add 1.5 cups of icing sugar mixture and whisk again until it resembles the texture of smooth, thin pouring custard. Spoon half a tablespoon of icing over the top of each muffin and decorate as desired.