Sweet Potato Coconut Date Rye Muffins

Sweet potato coconut date rye muffins.... the name is a list of buzzwords in "healthy baking" right now. This emphasis on alternative flours and sweeteners in the Violet Bakery cookbook makes sense, given Claire Ptak's previous life as pastry chef at Chez Panisse in Berkeley. Like her rye brownies, these muffins are intriguingly different from traditional muffins, yet utterly delicious.

They come together really easily. First roast sweet potatoes until tender, let cool a little and then mash - plus there's no need to fuss about mashing the sweet potato entirely. Stir together your dry ingredients, separately stir together the wet ingredients, then fold together. Let the batter hydrate for 10 minutes and bake. You can also make the batter the night before, fill the muffin pans, cover them with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight, then bake in the morning so they are fresh. These sweet potato coconut date rye muffins are outstanding when warm, but still quite good at room temperature.

These muffins are amazingly moist and delicate, with the perfect balance of flavors coming from the different flours, sweet potato, coconut, dates, and sweeteners. They would make outstanding snacks for a hike or post-workout with some Greek yogurt (how I've been eating them).

Sweet potato, coconut, date, and rye muffins

Recipe has been slightly adapted from the original (I reduced the amount of sweetener by 2 tablespoons).

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Course: Breakfast

Prep Time: 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes minutes

Resting time: 10 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 5 minutes minutes

Servings: 22

Ingredients

• 700 g (1½ lbs) sweet potatoes* about 2 large, skins on
• 270 g (2 cups) whole grain rye flour
• 180 g (1⅓ cups) barley or spelt flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 300 g (1¼ cups) whole milk or unsweetened almond milk
• 200 g (¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon) vegetable (or coconut) oil
• 125 g (1¼ cups) maple syrup
• 50 g (2 tablespoons) honey or agave syrup**
• 150 g (5 ounces) dates about 10, pitted and cut into eighths
• 130 g (1⅔ cups) shredded unsweetened coconut
• 50 g (⅔ cup) coconut chips for sprinkling on top, optional

Instructions

• Place rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 355 F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with liners and set aside.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut the sweet potatoes in half lengthwise, place cut side down on the lined baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake about 30 minutes, until tender. Once cooked, scrape the flesh out of the skins, discarding the skins or saving them for another purpose. Mash the sweet potato flesh until mostly smooth with some remaining small chunks.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and pumpkin pie spice.
• In a large bowl, whisk together oil, vanilla, eggs, and milk. Stir in the maple syrup and honey, mashed sweet potato, chopped dates, and shredded coconut.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring together until the dry ingredients are just incorporated. The batter will be quite thick.
• Let the batter rest 10 minutes so the flour absorbs some of the liquid.
• Spoon batter into prepared pan, filling each muffin cup with ½ cup of batter. The muffin cups should be three-quarters of the way full, which will lead to a slightly domed muffin top. Sprinkle with the coconut chips (if desired). Bake for 30 minutes or until golden on top and a toothpick comes out clean after insertion into the middle of a muffin.
• Let rest for 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, with plain yogurt or butter on the side.
• These muffins are extremely moist and will last quite well at room temperature, for up to 3 days, if well-wrapped. Alternatively, freeze them - they reheat quite well in the toaster or with the defrost setting of a microwave.

Notes

*You will wind up with about 1 lb/450 grams/15 ounces cooked sweet potato flesh.
**The original recipe called for 4 tablespoons agave syrup.