Muffins with spinach.. I know it sounds weird! But I have to tell you, this vegan spinach muffins with coconut cream filling are so delicious! The muffins are moist and fluffy and had a good amount of spinach and subtle flavour of the banana. No one can detect the spinach in the muffins so if you are serving it to people who don’t like spinach, tell them after they finish eating, it will be a big surprise for them☺
The coconut cream is slightly lemony and not too sweet. It goes really well with the muffins.
I made this muffins with coconut cream for dessert but it can be served without any cream or frosting as it’s still flavourful and it’s perfect for breakfast in that way.
In this recipe, flax egg helped the muffins to go moist and fluffy.
Flaxseeds can be found in the most of the major supermarket in the UK and probably in many other countries. One packet of flaxseeds last for a while as you only need a few table spoons for one cooking. I buy mine from Aldi supermarket for £1.79☺Please see the further info about flaxseeds on the Ingredients page on this blog.
To make the spinach muffins is very easy.
- Pulse the wilted spinach in a beaker with the oil, applesauce, banana, sugar, flax egg and vanilla with a hand blender.
- Gently fold in the flour, baking powder and the salt, mix to combine. Careful, not to over mix!
- Pour into the muffin tin and bake for 20 minutes until it’s cooked through.
To make the coconut cream is simple.
- Melt the shredded creamed coconut in the microwave.
- Mix in the lemon juice, soy milk, icing sugar and the vanilla extract. Mix well until creamy. Let it sit in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- The consistency is a little bit runnier than you would want but don’t worry, it will harden in the fridge. If you are in a hurry, let the cream sit in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Filling the cream inside the muffins is easier than you think
- Make a cross cut in the centre of each muffin with a fruit knife. Cut quite deep so that it creates enough space for the filling to go in.
- Put the coconut cream into the piping bag with a nozzle and gently insert the nozzle into the cut of the muffin. Make sure the nozzle goes into the bottom of the hole.
- Gently squeeze the piping bag to get the cream out inside the muffin. Repeat the process for the rest of the muffins.
Please see the detailed instructions for the recipe☻
This vegan spinach muffins with coconut cream filling are pleasantly sweet and the spinach and the flaxseeds make this muffins healthier! Do you have spinach? Try this recipe and surprise your family or friends with this healthy sweet treat!
Vegan Spinach Muffins with Coconut Cream Filling
Ingredients
Spinach muffins
- 1 flax egg
- 60 g fresh baby spinach washed
- 15 ml oil I used sunflower oil
- 15 g applesauce
- 1/2 ripe banana
- 50 g light brown sugar white sugar works as well
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 190 g plain flour
- 4 g baking powder one tsp is 5g so slightly less than a tsp
- 1/4 g salt
Coconut cream filling (it makes enough to decorate the muffins, just like the photo in this recipe)
- 65 g creamed coconut shredded
- 2 tbsp soy milk
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp icing sugar sift if it's lumpy
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- some desiccated coconut optional
Instructions
Spinach muffins
- Make the flax egg by mixing 1 table spoon of ground flaxseed and 3 table spoons of hot water together in a small bowl. Set aside until you need it. Put a kettle on to boil some water for the spinach.
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 4 and grease a muffin tin (6 muffins for this recipe).
- Place the spinach in a bowl or a sauce pan and pour in the boiled water from the kettle. Leave the spinach in the boiled water for a minute to soften. Drain and rinse under cold water.
- Gently squeeze out the excess moisture from the spinach and put it in a beaker along with the oil, applesauce, banana, sugar, flax egg and vanilla. Pulse with a hand blender until it’s smooth.
- Transfer to a bowl, then sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Gently fold in to combine. Make sure, you do not over mix!!
- Pour in the muffin cups ¾ full and bake for 20 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes before taking out or until you are ready to put the coconut cream filling in. I left mine in the tin for about 2 hours.
Coconut cream filling
- Microwave the shredded creamed coconut in a bowl for a few minutes on a medium power until it melts little bit so that you can stir with a folk to cream. While it's being microwaved check often to make sure it's not burning. Mine took less than 2 minutes to melt.
- Add in the soy milk, stir and mix in the lemon juice, icing sugar and the vanilla extract. Mix well until creamy. Put in in the fridge for 30 minutes to set. The consistency looks a bit loose right now but after it rests in the fridge it will harden up. If you are in a hurry, you can put it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Putting in the filling
- With a fruit knife, make a cross cut in the centre of each muffin. The cut should be quite deep, close to the bottom of the muffin so that it will create enough space for the filling to go in.
- Prepare a disposable piping bag with a nozzle ( the one with a small hole works best). Take the coconut cream out of the fridge and give it a quick stir. Now you have the muffins, piping bag and the coconut cream ready.
- Put the coconut cream into the piping bag to get ready for filling. Gently push the nozzle in the muffin and squeeze the bag to get the cream out. You will feel the nozzle is coming up as inside of the muffin is filled, that's when to stop squeezing.
- Decorate the muffins with the rest of the coconut cream. Sprinkle the top with some desiccated coconut.
- You can keep the muffins in an airtight container in the fridge up to 4 days.
