When I was a little girl, I didn’t like coconut.I know, shocker, right? My mom would buy me these Cocktail Buns from nearby Chinese bakeries after school for a quick snack before I go off for an extra-curricular activity. Cocktail Buns, also known as Gai Mei Bao, literally means chicken’s bum in Chinese… sometimes I wonder how people come up with these absurd, rather unappetizing names for food. Names like these can be very confusing, especially a case like this when the bun does not consist of anything chicken related. It is merely a sweet bun with a shredded coconut filling… no chickens harmed in the making, and 100% vegetarian.

Whenever my mom buys those coconut “cocktail” buns for me, I would give her a lovely grimace and complain about how I didn’t like those buns. I was such a spoiled brat, and I don’t really know why I wasn’t a fan of them; I guess, like most kids, I was just a picky eater. Fast forward to about 3-4 years ago, my mom would bake up coconut treats and goodies for the family, igniting my love for these drupes. Fluffy coconut pancakes, coconut macaroons, coconut scones… I’d come to the realization that the nutty coconut wasn’t so bad after all.

A few days ago, my sister requested me to make some treats and snacks for her “black-hole” stomach cavity. Being the loving sister I am (she would beg to differ), I accepted her request and went right to work. I baked up a storm that day and managed to develop two successful recipes within the first try! The first one I’m sharing with you all today is this Summer Blueberry Coconut Muffin recipe. It is completely healthy, gluten-free, and rich in coconut flavour. The result? I was greeted my a measly crumb of a muffin the next morning I walked down the stairs into the kitchen for a hearty breakfast. Oh and then my sister decides to tell me that the muffins were really yummy and addictive… as if I couldn’t take a hint by the little mound of muffin liners sitting innocently in our compost container.

This muffin has such a tender crumb, without the use of all-purpose flour or those expensive blends of gluten-free all purpose flour. Because I used shredded coconut mildly sweetened with apple juice, I only added 2 dates to sweeten the batter of the muffins, making these muffins extremely low in sugar. Usually, coconut baked goods require little to no sugar because coconut naturally have a sweet tone to its flavour, and a little sugar goes a long way to bring out its natural fragrant. I suggest that you go off now and bake some delicious coconut muffins before I lure you in with another tantalizing muffin recipe coming up soon! On another note, you should return upon baking to let me know how many you inhaled in one sitting wonderful they turned out!