A Southern Grace: i've got a lovely bunch of coconuts

January 28, 2009

i've got a lovely bunch of coconuts

Yum

I could never, ever pick a favorite candy bar. No way, no how.


Three Musketeers Mint, Reese's anything, Milky Way Midnight, Skor & Heath (is there a difference between those two?), Whatchamacallit, NutRageous. I don't discriminate.

Another winner in my book? Mounds.

Sweet, chewy coconut. Rich, dark chocolate. A whole lotta yum.


Eb needed something to do, so I went looking for and found a new recipe using sourdough. I made two changes to the enticing muffin recipe that I found; one was intentional and one was by mistake. First of all, having been inspired by the Mounds bar, I opted to flavor the muffins with coconut rather than include walnuts. Secondly, I failed to read ahead, so instead of melting the chocolate and stirring it in, I simply tossed the chopped chocolate into the batter willy-nilly. That'll teach me to ass-u-me.


I was extremely pleased with these muffins. My error had no adverse effects on the final products; in fact, I don't think they could've been better. I happen to be a fan of chocolate chunkage, but if you're not, feel free to follow the original recipe exactly. A future project using this recipe might be creating a black-bottom-type cupcake, flavoring the cream cheese with coconut. Decadence? I think so.

When all is said and done, though, I think I'd still rather have a Mounds.

Mounds Muffins
(based on these beauties)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sourdough starter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup milk
4 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup coconut, toasted if it pleases you

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line two muffins trays.
Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, soda, and salt in a medium
bowl; set aside.
In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing to blend between each addition. Add the starter and vanilla and mix to blend. Mix in half of the dry ingredients, then the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients. Toss in your chopped chocolate and coconut and stir just until evenly mixed.
Fill the muffin cups with 1/4 cup batter each and bake for 20 minutes,
rotating halfway through baking. The muffins are done when puffed and a toothpick inserted into the center of one comes out clean.
Let the muffins cool 10 minutes in the pans, then transfer them to racks to cool completely.

61 comments:

pigpigscorner said...

Looks and sounds delicious! Can't wait for your cream cheese with coconut cupcake!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Mounds bars are one of my favourites although I live in Canada and we have similar versions from different chocolate companies called Bounty or simply.... Coconut.These cupcakes would be perfect for both my chocolate and coconut fix!!

Anonymous said...

I'll eat anything with coconut! Especially if it is a baked good...no joke!

Those look really good. I used to make an Almond Joy cake a few years ago....don't know why I stopped making it. Maybe I need to revisit that recipe, it was quite popular with friends and family!

Thanks for this yummy little muffin recipe :-)

Katie said...

I didn't like dark chocolate as a kid so I would pick the almond off of Almond Joys. Now that I'm a grown up Mounds are one of my favorite candies. These look good and if its a muffin then you can eat it for breakfast right????

kat said...

Sounds tasty

Maria said...

Chocolate and coconut, two of my favorites!! These look marvelous!

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Love that middle photo where you can see a chunk of chocolate and bits of coconut!
~ingrid

vanillasugarblog said...

Could you taste the sourdough? I love sourdough so much that I order sourdough bread from san fran (overnight). I know, bad and expensive, but damn it's the sourdough from san fran!!
So, I would imagine tht sourdough and chocolate is a big time flavor of love.

Susan @ SGCC said...

Isn't it funny how our mistakes sometimes yield the best results? Those muffins look positively sinful! I'm an Almond Joy girl, myself, so I might stir in some toasted almonds too.

Unknown said...

... can't imagine that there's a mistake in that beauty... :)

Heather said...

mmm. i am a huge fan of chocolate chunkage, too. milkway darks definitely rank among my top favorites, but there's also riesins, milk duds, and just plain old hersheys with almonds. and you don't want to hurt and candy bar's feelings by not eating them all. it's just a burden i'll have to bear, i guess.

Robin said...

Another Eb appearence! He is such a good guy to give of himself so freely. Eb for president!

Anonymous said...

What a fun muffin! I have a recipe from Food and Wine for Almond Joy bars. Can't wait to try it.

Anonymous said...

I've never actually baked with chocolate bars - these delicious-looking things seem like a nice place to start though!

Ann said...

Creativity abounds, per usual! Brilliant.

Peabody said...

Yum, yum. I loved my Almond Joy bread and this looks 10 times better. Must try.

Marie Reed said...

grabbing my coat... rushing to the store for these ingredients!

Peter M said...

OK, ya got coconut and cocoa here, now I'm reciting "Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs"...I'll be ok.

Aleta said...

Whatchamacallit - haven't had one of those in years.... suddenly I have a craving.

The muffins look yummy and I like chocolate chunkage too, so I think you idea hits the mark!

Pam said...

I am an almond joy girl so these muffins are obviously calling my name. I love anything with coconut.

Culinary Wannabe said...

Mounds are for sure my favorite candy bar. In fact, I will buy every other type of halloween candy when the time arises, cause I know I won't eat it. But mounds would not make it to the actual holiday, no chance. I am so going to have to try this!

Lori said...

Love Mounds. Love coconut. I am quite sure I would love these muffins.

Jessica@Foodmayhem said...

I'm partial to the ones with nuts like snickers and nutrageous. I also love muffins of all sorts. Yum!

Anonymous said...

Interesting, I've never heard of a Mound bar! My favourite US candy would have to be Dime bars or Butterfingers. Grace, you need to get into Aust candy, now that you've tried Tim Tams and all that ;)

La Bella Cooks said...

Mmmmm...mounds....now I want one.

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

Talking of candy bars I like caramilk. Lovely muffins.

MaryBeth said...

I too would never be able to pick just one, I have too many candy bar loves in my life. These muffins look fabulous, great job Grace!

calicodaisy said...

Awesome! I love Mounds, too!

Bunny said...

I love it when a mistake tastes good! I don't discriminate against candy bars either, it's all good!

Linda said...

This sounds delicious! I'm a total sucker for Milky Way and Almond Joy,

This recipe is right up my alley.

Anonymous said...

Simply sound delicious. I too love coconuts not to mention every chocolate bar ever made lol.

Gigi said...

how can you go wrong with chocolate and coconut. looks like a super muffin!

Vera said...

These look super delicious, Grace!

Abby said...

I love just about anything with coconut so these are right up my alley. Yummy.

The Blonde Duck said...

If only I wasn't allergic to chocolate!!! Wah!

Anonymous said...

Grace,
I don't eat a lot of chocolate because the caffeine doesn't agree with me, but if I were to indulge, it would probably be on a Mounds! These muffins look great.

Thanks for sharing that recipe!

Anonymous said...

Hi Grace,
I love, love, love Mounds. I don't bake a whole lot, but I'll put these on my list!

They look yummy!

Anonymous said...

I love Mounds too, so these beauties sound incredible!

And now I have the Whatchumacallit jingle stuck in my head. The one from the 90's, lol.

OhioMom said...

I have fond memories of Mounds Bars and movies from my long long long ago childhood :)

Yummy Muffins!

Sophie said...

Yay for happy accidents! I have a hard time 'reading' instructions, I think I just get so impatient because I want to hurry up and enjoy the finished product! I can't figure out what my favorite kind of chocolate is either, but I do love those little truffles with the caramel in the middle...turtles, I think they're called. Oh, and I would definitely go for a chocolatey treat like this one :).

Chef Jeena said...

I love coconut too Grace and this looks so good with the rich chocolate yum!

Half Baked said...

Yum love Mounds! I think your "mistake" made these muffins even better:)

veggie belly said...

Ive never seen muffins with sour dough starter before. These muffins look great, love the dark chocolate!

Marjie said...

Candy bars love us! I know they do! And these cupcakes look great!

eatme_delicious said...

Mmm chocolate and coconut is one of my favourite combinations. Heath and Skor bars are the same as far as I know. I think Skor bars are just in Canada and Heath in the states?

Anonymous said...

Eb is so versatile!

Hey did you forget Take 5?

Anonymous said...

Mounds and Almond Joy! My favorites :) I have to try your muffins.

Lucy..♥ said...

Ok those look absolutely mouth watering, DH has a stash of Mounds bars... I'm gonna sneak one ;-)

Gloria Baker said...

look wonderful Grace, really wonderful!! Gloria

pam said...

I'm not a big coconut fan, though I'll eat it if it comes with chocolate. I'll pretty much eat anything if it's mixed with chocolate.

test it comm said...

Chocolate and coconut muffins that use sourdough starter sound really good.!

Meg said...

Beyond delicious!

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home said...

I make a cake that's similar to this. My husband just LOVES coconut!

Emily said...

Mounds muffins?! You genius. These look scrumptious!

Jacque said...

I'm with you... chocolate chunkage is much more interesting sometimes. One of your muffins with a cup of hot tea would be perfect right now.

Albany Jane said...

Yay mounds muffins! You are quite the muffin maker, missy! This might get me to eat chocolate :)

LyB said...

If I made these for my sweetie, he would be so happy! Hmmm, maybe for Valentine's day... Thanks for the recipe, Grace!

Tabitha Blue said...

Ok, that looks scrumptious!!! I love mounds... and often make recipes without reading ahead. Oops. Well, this one looks great still!!


:)
~Tabitha~

freshmommyblog.com

Sandy said...

uh ... who eats everything you bake? downright delicious! I love Heath!

Jeanne said...

Chocolate! Coconut! Mmmm. These remind me of one of my favourite South African candy bars - a TV Bar!

Rosie said...

Absolutely mouth watering & scrumptious!

Rosie x