Coconut Pandan Muffin

Recently I have cravings for pandan. Being a Malaysian, Pandan and coconut are very common in our desserts.

What is pandan? It is a tropical plant that grow abundantly in Southeast Asia. Many of the Southeast asian cuisines use the fragrant leaves for cooking and baking. You will see pandan desserts everywhere in Malaysia, Thailand, Philippines and Indonesia. It is one of the key ingredients in the region.

For this dessert, I used the simplified version, i.e. Pandan extract, instead of the Pandan leaves. You can easily replace it with fresh pandan leaves, and boil it down and use the juices. Pandan leaves are usually available in the small Thai or Indonesian shops in Hong Kong. I bought my Pandan extract at a small baking shop in Taikoo (Little Bear).

The texture is spongy and light, and not very sweet. I used desiccated coconut and it is perfect for this muffin. I will try using Gula Melaka instead of granulated sugar next time, and also add another half teaspoon of pandan extract. Gula Melaka is a common Malaysian sweetener using coconut palm sugar. It is made from the sap of flower buds from the coconut palm. It has a complex in depth taste of caramel, smokey, butterscotch sweetness. Athough the recipe said it will make 12 muffins, I ended up with 17 muffins. John couldn't resist and finished 6 muffins right away!

If you are interested to make this, you can use this URL: https://theplantbasedwok.com/vegan-coconut-pandan-muffins/

Enjoy baking!