Mornings are meant for muffins. They're portable, easy to throw together, and can incorporate the season's fruit beautifully. Such is the case with these vanilla-flecked, oat and coconut-strewn, mango-laden beauties.

I love these muffins for many reasons. First, you can mix them by hand and there will be very few dishes (always a good thing). Second, they rely on my most favorite fat for cooking and baking: coconut oil. Last, they have a slight heartiness from the oats, a nice sweetness from the mango and coconut, and a speckled fragrant crumb from the vanilla bean. They really are the best of many worlds baked into one pretty spring muffin.

I used Ataulfo mangoes for this recipe; Whole Foods was kind enough to send some along to test, and I couldn't wait to fold them into something light and delicious for breakfast. If you're not familiar with Ataulfo mangoes, they're sometimes called Manila mangoes and are one of the sweetest varieties with a smooth, creamy flesh and a super small, thin pit. You can tell when your mango is ripe when it turns from green to golden yellow and when it gives a little after you gently squeeze it. You know those stringy fibers that make mangoes tough to cut and unpleasant to eat? Ataulfo mangoes are known to have very few of those.
When you're laying out your ingredients for these muffins, do make sure your sour cream and egg are room temperature; if they're too cold, you run the risk of re-solidifying the coconut oil which isn't really the end of the world--it just necessitates more vigorous stirring. Also, if you don't have oat flour, feel free to substitute whole wheat flour or all-purpose flour if you'd prefer. And it may seem fussy to call for two kinds of coconut, and there's nothing I hate more than a recipe that should be simple and turns out overly fussy. I like the wide-flake coconut in the batter of these muffins and don't think they need the added sweetness from sweetened, shredded coconut. That being said, I love the thin threads of sweetness atop these muffins, so I do call for both varieties here. Feel free to use one, whichever you prefer, or take my lead and experiment with both.

Mango Coconut Oat Muffins
Makes 10 large muffins
1/2 cup virgin coconut oil
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup oat flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup unsweetened wide-flake coconut
1 cup full fat sour cream, room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 vanilla bean, split
1 cup diced mango (from 2 Ataulfo mangoes)
1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut, for top
Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease 10 muffin cups with butter.
In a small saucepan, warm coconut oil just until it just barely melts. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, oats, baking powder, and salt. Stir in 1/2 cup of the unsweetened coconut.
In a separate medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, sugar, egg, lemon zest, and liquified coconut oil. Scrape the insides of the vanilla bean into the mixture and whisk well. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Add diced mango and gently fold until combined.
Divide batter among prepared muffin cups then sprinkle the tops with 1/4 cup of the sweetened coconut, about 1 teaspoon on each. Bake until a toothpick or tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 23-25 minutes.
Transfer muffins to a rack and let cool. If covered at room temperature, muffins will be good for 2-3 days.
Related: Recipe: Chocolate Chip Muffins
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(Image: Megan Gordon)
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Comments (13)
You can make oat flour by giving rolled oats a buzz in a food processor. Not really that hard...
mmm... these look so good!
Aw, but they don't have tops. Everyone knows that's the best part: Muffin stumps??
@akay Funny, they don't have poofy tops, you're right. Because of the higher moisture content and the heft of the oats and oat flour, they won't have that light, airy quality that some people love in their muffins. I actually love a little heartier muffin, so these were a hit in our house.
This looks a lot like the Double Coconut Muffin recipe from Smitten Kitchen:
http://smittenkitchen.com/2012/02/double-coconut-muffins/
Perhaps some credit is due?
@KPGILLES Thank you so much for the comment regarding Smitten Kitchen's muffins. I am a big fan of Deb's work and all of us at The Kitchn would most certainly note when we adapt a recipe from another source. This actually wasn't the case here. I've been baking with coconut oil for a few months now and knew that I wanted to use the Whole Foods mangoes in a muffin that combined oats, oat flour, sour cream (my favorite fat source for morning muffins) and coconut. I think the similarity is more coincidental than anything, but thank you for raising the question and concern.
@MEGANJGORDON Thanks for the quick and thoughtful response, and for the delicious sounding recipe.
I'd like to make these, as I have almost all ingredients on hand except the coconut oil. Would canola oil and a regular mango work just as well?
@KPGILLES No, thank you for bringing Deb's recipe to my attention, and for taking the time to voice your concern. Let me know how you like the recipe!
@RLSCOTT Regular mango would work just fine and I think canola oil should be o.k. I often use coconut oil as a straight substitute. My inclination is that I'd start with 1 tablespoon less of the canola oil though (the mango has a great deal of liquid) -- let me know how it goes!
I just made these muffins with banana instead of mango and they were amazing. Three days later, the very last muffin was as moist and tender as they'd been the day they were baked. Terrific recipe!
I made these last night, what a glorious thing to wake up to.
I have made Smitten Kitchen's Double Coconut Muffins, and these muffins. Both are delicious.
I tested out the Kitchn's recipe with mango pulp (since cans of it were on sale). They were warm and moist. Perhaps since I used mango pulp instead of diced mango, I got 13 large muffins.
My preference is for Smitten Kitchen's recipe, simply because of the oats in the Kitchn's recipe. Otherwise, very similar recipes and both equally delicious and moist.
'Kay, I know I'm pretty slow on the draw, but I just stumbled on this awesome jewel of a recipe, AND i'm in the middle of a muffin-kick!
Question: Anyone tried any non-glutinous flours for this recipe? I'm not averse to oat flour, but there's got to be something else to use besides all-purpose...
And may I reiterate: Mango and coconut? Genius!