It’s hard to tell there’s a fence under the lush, thick lilikoi vines in our garden. Their tendrils grab on to everything within their reach, which includes our mango trees. We’ve thought about removing the vines since we can’t keep up with all the fruit they produce. Our freezer is still full of lilikoi juice packed away in small containers. But we just can’t bring ourselves to do it. Every time we make something with lilikoi juice, whether it be jelly, tarts, bars, vinaigrette, the entire house is permeated with that exotic aroma. Virtually everything made with lilikoi tastes fantastic. There’s nothing else quite like it. Always on the look out for new ways to use our fruit, I found this recipe on the Tasting Kauai blog and one of the ingredients was lilikoi juice so I had to try it. They turned out to be the most delicious breakfast muffins with a nice hint of lilikoi flavor.
The lilikoi fruit itself is nondescript until you cut it open. Inside you’ll find jelly like pulp with numerous (edible) seeds and a fragrance so appealing. The lilikoi blossom has to be one of the most beautiful in the world.
Local Apple bananas, Maui Gold pineapple and roasted macadamia nuts make their way into this recipe along with the lilikoi juice and a bit of shredded coconut. If you don’t have macadamia nuts you may substitute with walnuts or pecans.
A dozen muffins minus one for a taste test.
- 2 cups white whole wheat flour
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ¼ cup shredded coconut
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ⅔ cup 2% milk (I used lactose free milk)
- ⅓ cup lilikoi juice
- 2 apple bananas, diced into ¼ inch cubes (about 1 cup)
- ½ cup fresh pineapple, diced into ¼ inch cubes
- ½ cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts, toasted (may substitute walnuts or pecans)
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees
- Lightly butter a muffin pan or spray with Pam
- Combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a small bowl and mix to combine
- Stir in shredded coconut
- In a medium-sized bowl, add eggs, oil, milk and lilikoi juice and whisk until combined
- Fold in bananas, pineapple and macadamia nuts
- Divide batter evenly into muffin tin
- As soon as the muffins are in the oven, reduce the temperature to 400 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes. Test after baking for 17 minutes to see if the muffins are done.