i've got a lovely bunch of coconuts

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.