Tropical Muffins

For a couple of years now, every Friday at work I have brought cookies to share with my colleagues. One of my coworkers told me that she so looked forward to the treats on Friday that she wanted to bring some of that energy to work on other days. She started bringing breakfast treats on Mondays as a positive “Thank goodness it’s Monday” way to start the week. This friend at work retired at the end of last year, so I thought it would be nice to continue the tradition.

Tomorrow is the first day of fall quarter at the library, and fall quarter is always really hectic. Lots of new students who don’t know where anything is or what they are supposed to do! I enjoy helping out new students, helping them find their way, but it’s hard to be super cheerful when you are answering the same question for the 20th time. But my job is to help them out, in whatever way they need. Here’s to a good first day!

I recently returned from a fabulous trip to Hawaii, and these muffins reminded me of some of the great fruits that I had while I was there. This is a fairly simple muffin recipe that allows you to use any sort of jam or preserves that you have on hand. I used apricot pineapple preserves and also added a little coconut to the batter. To add a little extra sweetness for Monday, I decided to glaze the muffins with pineapple glaze: just powdered sugar and pineapple juice. You could make the glaze with milk or omit it all together, but I figured I’d need an extra boost helping out all the new students.

Tropical Muffins

2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup any apricot pineapple preserves
½ cup shredded coconut
1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
About 4 tablespoons pineapple juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 18 muffin tins with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center. In a small bowl beat egg, milk and oil together. Pour all at once into the well in the flour mixture. Mix quickly and lightly until moistened. The batter will be lumpy. Gently stir in the preserves and the coconut.

Fill the muffin pans ¾ full. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool 5 minutes in the muffin tins and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Glaze once cooled.

Make the glaze: in a small bowl combine the powdered sugar and pineapple juice until of a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over cooled muffins.

Recipe adapted from All Recipes