Recipe: Orange Coconut Cobbler Muffins {and Teacher Appreciation Week}

This past Saturday, Madeline stood in front of the counter at our favorite bagel shop and announced that she wanted muffins.

While staring at their very-large-look-better-than-they-taste muffin selection in the glass case.

“How about we make some muffins this weekend instead?”

Luckily she was quickly appeased.

I ended up waiting until today to make them, since the kids were with their Dad for the rest of this past weekend, and my littlest sous chef couldn’t have been happier.

She mixed. And stirred. And crumbled. And patted.

I was only arm candy, there just to provide measurement assistance and reaching things in high places.

All these years, who knew you were supposed to pat the crumbs down? Good thing she’s there to lead the way.

She could barely wait for them to come out of the oven.

And then to cool off.

And before even tasting them, has already ear-marked which one she wants for breakfast.

Luckily for her, they’re pretty darn tasty. The muffins are moist, without being overly sweet. In fact, most of the sweetness comes from the crumb topping, so be sure not to skip that step.

They were crazy simple to make. I’m not fibbing when I say Madeline took charge of most of the recipe.  She was so proud of her efforts that she very carefully wrapped one of the muffins up tonight and sent it home with The Ex after Nick’s soccer try-outs (travel team).

This week is Teachers’ Appreciation Week, so three of the muffins are going to be packaged up and sent in for the kids’ teachers. This morning, I sent the kids in with these jars below.

Super simple to make, of course. I bought the jars from Wal-Mart, and filled them with Swedish fish. Tied with scrap ribbon I had on hand, and then made a quick label on the computer, using an image I found online and secured with a little bit of washi tape.

I heard they were a hit, so my work here is done. Well, for today, anyway.

Until tomorrow…

Source info:

*That cute stoneware plate that the muffin is on? It’s a series of appetizer plates from none other than Diane Keaton. They came out last year. She designed them for Bed, Bath, and Beyond and it took me forever to track them down.  I have every one but the “yum.”  If you can’t find them at your local BB&B, they can order them and have them shipped directly to your house, which is what I did.  They’ll still take the 20% off coupon, so that ended up covering the shipping cost.  And if you’re interested in hearing more about her inspiration and foray into the design world, you’ll like this article from the New York Times (I love that square plate pictured in the article, but haven’t found it anywhere).

* Madeline’s dress is from the folks at Pink Chicken (specifically this one). They sent it over to give us a chance to check it out. It’s super soft, ultra comfy, and really nice and roomy. She loves the little pink chicken that is embroidered on the front of it, and as long as I don’t call it a dress, she’ll wear it any day of the week.  (She wears it with leggings)

Orange Coconut Cobbler Muffins
Inspired from a Peach Cobbler recipe in the Joy the Baker cookbook

For the muffins:
1-1/2 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1 small can of mandarin oranges (drained)

In a bowl whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. In another bowl cream together the softened butter, egg, yolk, milk and extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, then stir in the mandarin oranges and coconut. Using an ice cream scoop, put the batter into 12-cup muffin tin that has been sprayed with non-stick spray (or use liners).

For the crumb topping: 4 tablespoons cold butter, 1/2 cup flour, 1/3 cup sugar, a pinch of salt and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mash together using your clean hands until it’s crumbly. Sprinkle over the muffin batter before baking. Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes, or until the muffins are set.

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