Pineapple Coconut Muffins Recipe

Who doesn't love the quintessential tropical summer flavor combination of pineapple and coconut? I know I do, though preferably when used in conjunction with rum. Except when it comes to breakfast. Though many a vacation morning I'd gladly wake up to a heavily blitzed piña colada, most days dictate otherwise. These delicious tropical blast muffins are a fine alternative. Creamy and rich with coconut and filled with juicy pineapple, I promise when you smell the buttery tropical flavors wafting from your oven, you won't miss the rum.

I've been making this muffin for years, but with a completely different batter. At my bakery, I'd mix up a big batch of milk-based muffin batter and stir in a variety of add-ins. For these muffins, I bumped up the coconut by swapping coconut milk in instead. Coconut milk (not to be confused with Coco Goya cream of coconut) is luxuriously creamy, and its subtle coconut flavor is just right. The extra fat of the coconut milk, when combined with butter, makes a ridiculously rich muffin with the tender texture of a cupcake. I always use canned pineapple because I find it much more consistent than fresh. Sweetened, shredded coconut adds crunch inside the muffin, and on top.

As with all of the recipes in this column, these muffins are easily hand mixed. By using super soft butter, a whisk and a bowl is all you need. Start your morning right with an easy recipe that's full of the tropics.