Cinnamon and Sugar Dusted Coconut Vanilla Breakfast Muffins
These cinnamon and sugar dusted coconut vanilla muffins are lightened up in calories but are still moist and delicious.
Lightly sweet with mellow hints of coconut and vanilla, these whole-grain muffins are delightful and a happy solution to having a cup of leftover canned coconut milk in the refrigerator just begging to be used.
Normally, I throw smidgeons of milk like that into our breakfast smoothies but I had bigger plans in mind for the coconut milk this time.
Muffins, of course.
I started with a simple muffin recipe, cut the sugar in half, swapped out more than half of the white flour for whole wheat, used coconut oil instead of butter and added a little dusting of cinnamon and sugar on top.
As with all muffins, the key to success is only giving the batter a few quick stirs to combine. Overmixing = sudden death to tender, fluffy muffins! And sudden death isn’t a good thing, in case you wondered.
The muffins are light and tender and quite fabulous for being on the healthier side of things.
We devoured these for breakfast and I’ve already made another batch to keep in the freezer for quick snacks and to use up in school lunchboxes.
So while the title suggests only eating them for breakfast, in all reality, these muffins are perfect anytime of the day. I love muffin success stories, don’t you?
One Year Ago: Butterscotch Brownie Bars with Chocolate Satin Frosting
Two Years Ago: Oatmeal Chocolate Moon Pies
Three Years Ago: Fruit Pizza
Cinnamon and Sugar Dusted Coconut Vanilla Breakfast Muffins
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup canned coconut milk, light or regular
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons coconut oil, melted
- 1 ¼ cups (178 g) white whole wheat flour
- 1 cup (142 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
- Cinnamon and sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray (or you can line them with paper liners).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, vanilla and coconut oil.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients.
- Using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula, stir the batter together until just combined. Don’t overmix or the muffins will be tough and dry. It only takes a few stirs to incorporate the batter well enough. The batter will be lumpy and that is ok.
- Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin tin. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and sugar.
- Bake for 16-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out dry or with a few moist crumbs. Don’t overbake.
- Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe, inspired by this recipe from Baking Bites
94 Comments on “Cinnamon and Sugar Dusted Coconut Vanilla Breakfast Muffins”
These muffins are delicious! The family loves them. Coconut milk and coconut oil combine to create a tender and moist muffin. Thanks!
Made these today and they were delicious!
Really nice, thank you for sharing. Full disclosure: in an effort to reduce my food spoilage I added some leftover finely chopped candied ginger. but even without the ginger a very nice little muffin recipe.
Delicious! I ground red wheat for the flour and added fresh diced pineapple and unsweetened coconut flakes. The fresh pineapple was a hit! Thank you!
Yum. I made these yesterday, following the recipe exactly, just doubled, and they came out perfectly. They smelled and tasted wonderful. I used virgin (or unrefined) coconut oil, and I think that really made a huge difference in terms of the coconut flavor. We sprinkled the cinnamon sugar on some of them and left it off on some others, and they both tasted fantastic.
I must have accidentally put 3 of the full cups instead of 2 because when I mixed everything together it was looking more like a dough. So to fix it I went back & added half of everything…except the oil (just forgot)…and they came out perfectly! I found this searching coconut milk muffins for the exact same reason- the leftover from the can! Thank you!
These taste like cupcakes–and what a great way to use the leftover coconut milk in my fridge! The only change I made was to use canola oil. Excellent with afternoon coffee ❤️
Awesome & simple. Simple flavors. Very nice. I totally botched the recipe, though, because I wasn’t paying attention to the amount of coconut milk to use. I had 1/2 CAN left and had already mixed the egg in before I realized my mistake. [divided recipe in half] so, like others I skipped the coconut oil and yes, it worked GREAT. I only came on to doublecheck that nothing was listed at “room temp” and if anyone had tips for mixing in the melted oil with the other cold items. These were accidentally fabulous. Thank you. [BTW I had the extra 1/2 can because last night we had your basil curry chicken. mmmmmmm]
Good recipe for a nice, moist muffin! I adapted it a bit, adding coconut flakes, some lime juice and lime zest. Next time I think I’ll add more sugar to make up for the tangy taste of the lime, but I also like that these muffins are just barely sweet. I also wish the recipe used a natural sweetener like maple syrup or honey, but I was afraid to use this as a substitute for the sugar because they are liquids. If you have adjusted ratios to make this recipe with maple syrup instead of sugar I’d appreciate it! Thanks
These are in the oven right now. I subbed 1/2 cup coconut sugar for the regular sugar. I really hope they turn out okay!
I doubled the muffins, adding just a little bit of milk to a can of coconut milk to make 2 cups and subbed unsweetened coconut for 1/4 c. flour. They turned out great with a beautiful dome.
I thought these were yummy and I would make them again but I am not sure if they are out-of-this-world-amazing. The kids liked them though, so they are a win!
I’ve just bake these muffins. Except a little oily these muffins taste great (I’ve left out the cinnamon and sugar dusting).
Thank you very much for your quick response. Greatly appreciate your advise.
Hello Mel, kindly advise should I be using 21/4 cups or 1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour if I do not have white whole wheat flour on hand. Is it fine to replace coconut oil with olive oil or unsweetened applesauce for this recipe? Thank you.
Yes, you can use 2 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour. And you can definitely try using olive oil (it will have a stronger flavor in the muffins) or try subbing in applesauce. Good luck!
Like another poster, I just used the entire can of whole fat coconut milk instead of using part of it plus separate melted coconut oil. This made for a super fast prep and oh my goodness, the muffins turned out so perfectly moist and coconutty! These will definitely be a staple around here!
Do you make these with refined or unrefined coconut oil? (Hope it hasn’t already been answered!…couldn’t find it anywhere in recipe or comments)
I usually use unrefined, but you could use either.
Yum, these were delicious! Every single recipe I’ve tried of yours Mel has turned out and some are staples in our house…thank you thank you for posting all these great recipes!
How do you keep them ‘crisp’ tell the next day? I love the way the texture is when you pull them out of the oven and they cool slightly. Mine get soggy if I save some for the next morning 🙁
Mine soften a little, too. You could lightly warm them in the oven to see if that helps.
Best muffins ever! My kids almost always complain when I make muffins, but not these ones. Thanks for the recipe!
I don’t have whole wheat flour. How much all purpose or bread flour should I use instead?
Just try the same amount.