Gluten Free Coconut Cupcakes

GF Coconut Cupcake, originally uploaded by Kate Chan.

Yes, my mind is whirling with the great news of our kidlet making an appearance. It feels SO GOOD to have a DATE on the calendar attached to a flight number and everything. It’s really an amazing thing. It is the first time in this very long process that there hasn’t been something else hanging over head or some other “unknown” about how long until we meet her.

We have a DATE! OH! I could SHOUT that from the mountains but umm…. I’m not in the mountains. Instead, I just sing happily on the way home and dance in the classroom with my students.

I made some coconut cupcakes the other day because I couldn’t resist this delicious looking package from G.F. Joe’s for unsweetened coconut. I had been looking high and low for some. I’m honestly a bit surprised at the LACK of unsweetened coconut at our grocers, to be honest. One would think that among the millions of things stashed on the shelves that there would be space for unsweetened, yummy coconut. Nope. Nada.

You can, however, find unsweetened coconut on the shelves of your nearest Asian market, food co-op, health food store, or .. if you are wickedly LUCKY like me (teasing!), you can pick some up at G.F. Joe’s. (And Joe even has a NEW sign hanging over the doors so he is easier to find!)

These cupcakes were the perfect thing to celebrate good news. They are NOT the light and fluffy cupcake but much more like a pound cake in consistency. To be honest, I think the next time I make this recipe, I will just make coconut bread. I think it will taste heavenly toasted for my breakfast on the run. Hmm.. maybe with even a little smear of peanut butter.

Okay.. I am digressing. Nothing new… I’m just getting less able to stick to a story line with thoughts of the kidlet’s arrival bouncing in my head. It’s actually quite the professional handicap. No one needs a teacher with swiss cheese for a brain, lemme just say that now.

Anywho, I hope you give these cupcakes a whirl. I’m making the coconut bread this weekend to test that. I’ll let you know how that works out too.

This weekend we are busy getting the car ready to carry a baby. I need new tires (grumble….) and it could definitely use a good vacuuming. We are off to a friend’s house to make kimchi (my first lesson) and some other tasty Korean food for children. I’m forever grateful for this family’s offer to help me learn these food techniques for the kidlet. It will make her transition here a little easier when the food she eats tastes somewhat similar to what she ate in Korea.

They say that we should start counting her age again once she arrives as everything is so new. Internationally adopted children, especially, have so many new things to learn (sights, sounds, smells, phonics!, tastes, textures, etc) that it is like starting over from Day One with a newborn. So while she will be one week shy of turning 11 months old, it is really like her social world and knowledge (routines, etc) will be the same as for a newborn. After all, as of April 9, it will be Day One for us all as a family too. I’m incredibly thankful to be able to learn a few food tidbits and tips from our Korean friends to help ease our little one in to our world.

But enough of my prattle – you’re here for the food, right?
So please! Taste these! Try them!
Let me know what you think! 😀

Gluten Free Coconut Cupcakes

Makes one dozen standard-sized cupcakes.
(A printable copy of this recipe can be found here.)

Ingredients:
2 Tablespoons of butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 cup superfine sugar
1/4 cup non-fat GF vanilla yogurt
1 teaspoon GF vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon GF coconut extract
1 cup unsweetened coconut
1 1/2 cups Gluten-Free Flour Mix
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
2/3 cup lite coconut milk

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
  2. In the bowl of your mixer, mix butter, eggs and yogurt together evenly.
  3. Add superfine sugar, vanilla and coconut extracts. Mix together again.
  4. Add unsweetened coconut, gluten-free flour mix and xanthan gum. Mix again.
  5. Slowly add the coconut milk until you reach a slightly thick muffin batter.
  6. Line muffin tin with paper muffin cups. Fill each 2/3 – 3/4 full.
  7. Bake at 350F for 18 – 24 minutes or until slightly golden on top.
  8. Allow to cool and then frost with your favorite frosting – or eat as is.

Happy Gluten Free Eating, All!
~Kate

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