For the past few months I’ve found myself staring in some considerable perplexion at a large can of crushed pinapple in my larder. I had no idea when I bought it, let alone why I bought it. This week I finally found a recipe to use it up: Pineapple Muffins. They sounded a bit odd but turned out to be absolutely gorgeous!

The recipe comes from Susan Reimer’s “Muffins: Fast and Fantastic”, one of the best single-subject cookbooks around. Due to the thorough draining that the crushed pineapple needs, the recipe is a little more time-consuming than normal. It’s definitely worth the additional work. I tossed about 30g of dessicated coconut into the batter as I can’t resist trashy flavour combinations….

I’ve never made such tender muffins before. Using half milk/pineapple juice created a really tender crumb. The pineapple flavour wasn’t overwhelming, despite the large amount used. The best bit was definitely the top crust where there was a strong pina colada flavour. Bliss. The muffins kept spectacularly well; two days on and they still taste just as good. Quite astonishing for muffins!

Pineapple Muffins, from “Muffins: Fast and Fantastic”

Makes 12.

280g plain flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
110g caster sugar
1 large egg
180-240ml crushed pineapple – drain well before packing into a measuring jug
210-240ml milk (you can use half pineapple juice)
90ml vegetable oil
Dessicated coconut for topping

Preheat oven to Gas Mark 5 / 190C. Prepare the muffin tin (either with papers or butter thoroughly).

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl. In separate bowl beat the egg, then stir in pineapple, milk and oil. Beat well.
Pour wet ingredients over dry; stir just enough to combine. Over-mixing will give heavy muffins. Batter will be thick and lumpy but no traces of flour should remain.

Spoon into muffin tin. Sprinkle generously with coconut. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until tops are lightly browned and spring back when pressed gently. Cool on a wire rack.