Inspired by Hawaii

The worst thing about traveling is coming home and not being able to find the one ingredient that you were inspired to cook with. Since our trip to Hawaii, I've had about a million ideas for playing with passion fruit…passion fruit tarts, passion fruit bars, passion fruit cheesecake, passion fruit gelato, passion fruit curd, the list goes on and on. But all that inspiration is for nothing—it turns out passion fruit is nearly impossible to find around here, and when you do manage to locate the few lifeless lilikoi that are available, you realize all your bright ideas may never materialize because each fruit costs a small fortune.

Time to turn my attention to the trip's second most inspirational ingredient. Thankfully, this one's not so hard to find…Mmm, coconut!

Chocolate-Coconut Muffins
Printable Recipe

Nonstick pan spray, optional
8 ounces all-purpose flour
5 ounces sugar
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
8 ounces coconut milk
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup shredded coconut, optional

Preheat the oven to 375˚F. Grease a standard 12-cup muffin pan with nonstick pan spray or line with paper liners. Whisk together the flour, sugar, chocolate, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together the eggs, coconut milk, butter, and vanilla in a medium bowl. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined. Divide the batter among the muffin cups and sprinkle the muffins with the coconut, if desired. Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, or until the edges of the muffins start to shrink away from the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Let the muffins cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Invert onto a cooling rack and finish cooling completely.

Makes 1 dozen muffins. They keep well and stay moist for 2 to 3 days in a tightly sealed container in a cool, dry place.