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    Home > Recipes

    Vegan Coconut Muffins with an Orange Glaze

    Posted: Feb 28, 2010 ยท Updated: Mar 20, 2022

    Jump to Recipe Pin Recipe

    Soft, fluffy vegan coconut muffins with the addictive combination of coconut flakes and orange.

    Photo of vegan coconut muffin with orange glaze on blue plate.

    I don't have a terribly sweet tooth (although I know that doesn't sound right to those of you who've followed this blog for a while and been witness to the vegan baked goodies and Indian sweets I've posted here). But it is the truth-- I'd pick a savory snack over a sweet one any day.

    For breakfast, though, and especially for breakfast on a Sunday morning, I love a bite of something sweet, although not cloyingly, richly sweet.

    I was thrilled, then, to come across a recipe for Maui Muffins with an Orange Glaze in one of the vegan cookbooks I've owned for at least a year now and that has some truly unique recipes-- the Candle Cafe Cookbook (I really love their chocolate cake with a ganache frosting. In fact, it was after eating it at a friend's home that I rushed out to buy this cookbook).

    These muffins sounded perfect-- delicious and complex with many layers of flavor, but healthy as well with whole wheat and fruit juices and coconut.

    I have a quirk about coconut. I love it in curries and Indian dishes, and I adore it in traditional Indian sweets like modaks and karanjis and naralachi vadi. But I absolutely, positively cannot stand it in cookies, cakes, candies and other baked goods.

    But I'd bought a bag of sweetened coconut a while back that was lying in my refrigerator asking to be used, and I thought, what the heck. The muffins sounded good enough to try.

    I doubled up on the coconut in the original recipe because I didn't have pineapple, which the recipe called for and which is perhaps one of the reasons why these are called Maui muffins. So I am renaming mine Coconut Muffins instead. Also, instead of whole-wheat pastry flour, which the recipe called for and which I'd just run out of, I used durum whole-wheat flour which I did have on hand because that's what I use to make my chapatis. The substitution worked very well-- the muffins were moist and had a great crumb.

    The recipe calls for agave nectar and for those of you who might not be familiar with it, this is a great natural sweetener which comes from the agave cactus. It makes a great substitute for honey which spoon-for-spoon has almost twice the calories as sugar does. (And, of course, honey is not vegan because those poor bees didn't work themselves to death so we could just swoop in and steal their honey.)

    Agave nectar has a low glycemic index which makes it one of the healthiest sweeteners you can eat, and if you live in the United States, it is easy to find -- even the Costco I go to here in my Washington suburb stocks it.

    So here it is, then, a delicious, healthy and easy recipe for a snack or breakfast or brunch or pre-breakfast...you get the idea? You can leave out the orange glaze if you want to reduce the sugar in the recipe, but I thought its sweetness was wonderfully complimentary to the barely-sweet muffin.

    More vegan muffin recipes

    • Vegan Applesauce Muffins
    • Vegan Banana Muffins
    • Vegan Banana Crumb Muffins
    • Vegan Butternut Squash Muffins
    Overhead photo of vegan coconut muffin with an orange glaze on blue plate.

    Coconut Muffins With An Orange Glaze

    Soft, fluffy vegan coconut muffins with the addictive combination of coconut flakes and orange.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Review Recipe
    Course: Breakfast/Muffins
    Cuisine: American
    Diet: Vegan, Vegetarian
    Keyword: vegan coconut muffins
    Prep Time: 30 mins
    Cook Time: 25 mins
    Total Time: 55 mins
    Servings: 12 muffins
    Calories: 213kcal
    Author: Vaishali ยท Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes

    Ingredients 

    For the coconut muffins

    • 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
    • 1 cup whole wheat flour
    • 2 teaspoon baking powder
    • ยฝ teaspoon baking soda
    • ยผ teaspoon salt
    • 1 ยฝ teaspoon egg replacer powder (or tapioca starch)
    • ยพ cup orange juice
    • ยผ cup agave nectar (use maple syrup or regular sugar if you donโ€™t have this)
    • Zest of 1 orange (set aside 2 teaspoon or so for the orange glaze)
    • ยผ cup vegetable oil (the original recipe recommends safflower)
    • 1 cup water
    • 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

    For the glaze

    • 1 cup powdered sugar (powdered sugar)
    • ยผ cup orange juice
    • 2 teaspoon orange zest
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    Instructions

    Make the coconut muffins

    • In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
    • In a separate bowl, dissolve the egg replacer with the orange juice. Add the agave nectar, orange zest, oil and water
    • Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix together until they are just combined. Do not overmix. Add the coconut and mix in.
    • Greas a 12-cup muffin tin and divide the batter equally between the cups.
    • Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.
    • Place on a rack to cool. Unmold after 10 minutes and continue to cool the muffins.

    Make the glaze

    • Heat the orange juice in a small saucepan until it begins to boil.
    • Add the powdered sugar and zest and turn off the heat. Whisk together well.
    • Pour over the cooled or barely-warm muffins.

    Nutrition

    Serving: 1muffin | Calories: 213kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Sodium: 117mg | Potassium: 182mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 44IU | Vitamin C: 11mg | Calcium: 47mg | Iron: 1mg
    Tried this recipe?Please leave a comment and recipe rating below!
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    About Vaishali


    Hi! I am so happy you're here. I'm Vaishali, and I've been sharing recipes for delicious vegan food at Holy Cow Vegan since 2007. Every one of the more than 1,000 recipes on this blog has been tried and tested -- and loved -- by my family and I. I hope you will find something here to share with your loved ones. Thanks for stopping by!
    Read more about me here.

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Dian

      August 01, 2020 at 5:25 pm

      Are these measurements us or metric?

      Reply
    2. Alamelu Sundaram

      May 15, 2017 at 3:46 pm

      Question regarding Egg replacer step 1 and 2
      In a large bowl, whisk together the flours, egg replace powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
      In a separate bowl, dissolve the egg replacer with the orange juice. Add the agave nectar, orange zest, oil and water

      Do you add the egg replacer powder with the flour mixture OR
      Mix with the wet ingredients?

      Reply
      • Vaishali

        May 15, 2017 at 3:50 pm

        Sorry about the confusion. Dissolve it with the juice, not mix with flours.

        Reply
        • Alamelu

          May 15, 2017 at 5:11 pm

          Thank you Vaishali. Your site is amazing. Making wonderful, amazing vegan dosai, cakes, pancakes for my family and 5 grandchildren. My friends can't believe muffins and cakes I take are vegan.

          Reply
    3. Leslie Sanford

      September 02, 2013 at 7:53 pm

      I made these muffins a few times a while back out of The Candle Cafe Cookbook - they were delicious!! The only problem I had was the glaze was so sticky that it was a mess eating them. Worth it though!!

      Reply
      • Lulu

        January 18, 2015 at 9:12 am

        I made the Candle Cafe muffins too but they collapsed after baking. Did you use whole wheat pastry flour in them or Durum Wheat as this recipe calls for? I will have to try again.

        Reply
        • Vaishali Honawar

          January 18, 2015 at 9:51 am

          Lulu, I used durum flour but the original called for whole wheat.

          Reply
    4. Anonymous

      September 15, 2011 at 5:23 am

      hi Vaishali,

      Thanks. I do have cornstarch and, will try using that.

      God Bless.
      Nisha.

      Reply
    5. Vaishali

      September 13, 2011 at 1:12 pm

      Hi Nisha, these muffins are more delicately flavored, so I would recommend replacing the egg replacer with 2 tsp of cornstarch. If you don't have cornstarch, use 1 tbsp of the flaxmeal mixed with 2 tbsp of water, but you might lose some of the delicate orange flavor.

      Reply
    6. Anonymous

      September 13, 2011 at 11:09 am

      Hi vaishali,

      To much of my happiness I have found flaxseed. Can I substitute egg replacer with flaxseedmeal?

      God Bless.
      Nisha.

      Reply
    7. Jayasri

      March 14, 2010 at 8:05 am

      Muffin looks so delicious, first time here, lovely blog and lovely write up too..

      Reply
    8. simply.food

      March 05, 2010 at 9:51 pm

      Lovely combination of orange and coconut.Muffins looks delicious.

      Reply
    9. Anonymous

      March 02, 2010 at 11:17 pm

      I wish I could just eat one muffin right away ๐Ÿ™‚ I love the addition of coconut in your muffins.

      Anuu

      Reply
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    Hi, I'm Vaishali! I cook, eat and share easy, tasty and nutritious plant-based recipes from my Washington, D.C. kitchen, but I never fight a craving for samosas or French fries. 

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    Vaishali Honawar, Holy Cow Vegan author, profile photo

    Hi, I'm Vaishali! I cook, eat and share easy, tasty and nutritious plant-based recipes from my Washington, D.C. kitchen, but I never fight a craving for samosas or French fries. 

    More about me โ†’

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