When other kids were playing team sports after school, I was enmeshed in music. Piano lessons, music theory classes, clarinet lessons, clarinet ensemble, piano practice, clarinet practice, eisteddfods, music festivals. I’d also sing to my mum as she played chauffeur, although it wasn’t until last year that I took up singing in a less haphazard way.
A large portion of my childhood memories relate to music. The friends I made through clarinet, the first piano teacher who scared the willies out of me and the second piano teacher who became a dear friend. The nauseating butterflies before piano and clarinet exams (less so theory exams), and the giddiness afterwards when I got to call my grandparents and dad and tell them that, thank heavens, I hadn’t “failed” by getting less than top marks. (But this isn’t the place to talk about ridiculous over-achieving perfectionist tendencies.)
I remember once, after a piano exam, Mum and I stopped at a cafe to celebrate my results with something sweet. I remember standing at the bakery case and pointing to an individual pecan pie, drawn in by its golden-brown nuts bathed in a glossy sugar syrup.
I remember not liking the pecan pie at all. It was too cloying and too one-note, and the pastry base was stodgy, crumbling, and lacking in flavour. Yet despite this disappointment, I held out hope for one day finding a pecan pie that tasted like I dreamed it would.
These Coconut Pecan Pie Muffins aren’t a true pecan pie, but by golly gee whiz willikins! They are rich and sweet and nutty and cinnamon-tinted and glorious and definitely a dessert-muffin rather than a breakfast-muffin which is always a good thing.
The dessert-aspect is why I ate most of these muffins warmed up in the microwave with a hearty scoop of Vanilla So Good soy ice cream. (Well, I also ate them this way because following the original recipe’s baking time resulted in uncooked-at-the-bottom muffins that I wasn’t comfortable taking to work as per my original plan and therefore had to warm up to cook a little bit more to eat all by myself, but shhhhh. We shan’t speak of that.)
My first pecan pie experience may have made my heart cry, but these gluten-free and dairy-free Coconut Pecan Pie muffins taste like what I imagine the acme of pecan pies would taste like. Except better, because of the crackly top, moist, soft, nut- and coconut-studded crumb, and dairy-free ice cream.
Plus, I didn’t have to steel myself against the stern eyes of an AMEB examiner to get to these muffins. That’s a win right there.
Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free Coconut Pecan Pie Muffins
Adapted from Tasty Kitchen
Makes 8 (next time I might try making 10-12 smaller muffins)
- 1 cup (220g) packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (75g) gluten-free flour (I used Orgran. Normal flour will also work.)
- 3/4 cup (80g) chopped pecans
- 1/3 cup (35g) shredded/desiccated coconut
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 2/3 cups softened dairy-free spread or butter (I used Nuttelex)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). Grease and/or line a muffin pan.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar, gluten-free flour, pecans, coconut, and cinnamon.
- In a separate bowl, beat the Nuttelex and eggs together until smooth. (I recommend using hand-held electric beaters for this. I started out with my arm and a whisk, and That. Was. Stupid.)
- Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups until they’re about 2/3rds full. (You may want to make more than 8; I should have, in retrospect.)
- Bake muffins for 25-35 minutes*, until cooked through. Leave muffins in tins for 5 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.
* Yes, I know this is a huge time difference, but I baked mine for about 28 minutes and they were, as mentioned above, still very gooey (read: uncooked) at the bottom. Depending on your oven and whether you make 8, 10, or 12 muffins, you may want to cover the tops with foil and bake them for longer. I will confidently state, however, that these coconut pecan pie muffins are incredibly delicious even when not entirely cooked through.
{ 82 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh yum, yum, yum! Flavorful and easy to boot! My kind of baking!
Thank you Debi! “Easy” is generally one of my prerequisites of baking too
These look much better than pie AND I can eat them for breakfast (not that I never never eaten pie for breakfast…). I’d love to try them with coconut flour!
Coconut flour is the most brilliant idea! I bet that would help with the gooey base, too, as coconut flour absorbs so much moisture
Do let me know if you try it out!
This is a cute entry
I remember one time, Evan was telling me how stressed you were because of an upcoming piano exam (at which you were sure you would fail). And I said ‘I’m sure she’ll get an A+ as usual!’ then he shook his head sadly and said ‘I think she might be right this time, she hasn’t done much practice, and it hasn’t sounded great when she has.’
Two days later, Evan says ‘Hannah went to get exam. She got an A+!! It’s unbelievable!’ and I said I always believed it
I think this might have happened when I was 18, but I’ve always remembered it vividly.
Sadly, that’s meant to say ‘the exam’, not ‘get exam’. Damn iPhone autocorrect!!!
OH MY GOD. My face totally just made a “someone just got caught out OH MY GOD” face, and I actually said “oh-HO!” out loud. It’s nice to know who had my back, so to speak. “…hasn’t sounded great when she has”. Oh, Evan is going to hear about this!
Thank you, my darling, for your faith in me
Probably just Evan’s taste in music … then again, you did sometimes pull things out of a hat! (Nice reminiscence Li).
Can’t pull things out of a hat unless they were already in the hat, right? Right? Please tell me I’m right.
(Though to be fair, there were a few times when I think I surprised us all by turning a lack of practice into musical gold
)
Mmm yes good! Much better than dry pecan pie, methinks.
Ah, this brought back fond memories of my own piano exams and recitals. I can’t believe how nervous I used to get!
PS .Little you at the piano is so sweet.
Little me had spectacular fashion sense, too
Yay fellow pianist fun times!
Yum. I want one now. Sadly, I am not in my kitchen. Maybe tomorrow.x
After all, tomorrow is another day?
Oh yum!!! These look great
I’m a sucker for anything coconut these days and love how simple they look to make!
On a musical note – I tried to be musical in high school by taking up violin. I never made it past learning ‘Mary had a little lamb’ and was alway scared of my music teacher who was rumoured to have had a nervous breakdown and now took ‘happy pills’ that made her have this grotesque grin on permanently.
So, no, not really musical however I appreciate good music and I can only imagine how beautifully you now play and sing due all that training.
OMG you got taught violin by the Joker? Impressive.
I did a fortnight of violin during a music holiday program once, and swiftly fell not-in-love. Give me the double bass instead any day
Aw, thank you! But the lack of practice is likely impinging on the beauty
I love the length of this ingredient list – especially when paired with the delicious looking products that are the result
I also loved the insight into your childhood music extravaganza. I only did piano, and no where near as in depth as you. Given that I also didn’t do a lot of sport, I was never fully immersed in a non-academic arena during school and I remain fascinated by those who were!
Yeah, I’m totally one of those people who stops paying attention once an ingredients list gets too long
Oh, my music wasn’t at all related to any of my schools; ’twas all external/private
Oh my, how frightening were music exams? I remember having panic attacks before going into them and those freaky examiners…. argh horrible. I had to do music theory lessons too – SO BORING, plus orchestra, jazz band, wind band, brass band, chorale… sounds like we had very similar childhood extra curricular activities!
Also, great minds think alike as I am at this very minute crafting a no bake pumpkin-chocolate-pecan pie!
These muffins sound delish…. but it’s too hot to turn on the oven hence my ‘no bake.’
Bahaha, did you also get inordinately excited whenever there was something like an incredibly nerdy cartoon with jokes that weren’t even funny in the theory books? Oooh, I think you beat me in the childhood music stakes! So many bands…
Your no-bake pie sounds incredible! I wish it were hot here… stupid cold summer.
All the piano talk has brought back some fond memories of my favorite music teacher Miss Nancy! I learned the piano for two years and those saturdays were some of the best days of my life!
Aw, that makes me so happy! I’m delighted to have brought back lovely music memories for you
My Mom used to sell Pecan Pies out of her house when she was my age. So pecan pie flavored anything always strikes as a little comfort food for my heart
That is such an awesome story. I think I love your mum.
Oh so delightful! Truthfully, I think I’ve only tried pecan pie once in my life and as awesome as it looked, it underwhelmed me a bit too. These muffins look WAY better!
I bet they would need over 30 min to bake since the flour ratio is rather low. I like that though, more gooey!
Muffins generally beat pie anyway
(And so much easier to make allergy-friendly!)
The gooeyness definitely wasn’t a bad thing for the eating, but did make getting them out of their cases tricky
I felt the same way about pecan pie until I came across this amazing recipe at this restaurant I used to bake pies for. But these muffins being gluten and dairy free sound even better because there is coconut n them too and I LOVE coconut!
One day you shall make me that pie, Lorraine. Fact.
I’m so happy to be getting (slowly) back on the coconut train!
I never use to like pecans either but since coming back from the US where they use pecans all over the place, I actually don’t mind it
And i think when it’s used properly its amazing ~
Gotta give this recipe a go when I have time ~
Let me know what you think if you do! I’ve always loved pecans
Mmm, I know what you mean, about (a) the non-sporty childhood (my time was taken up with dance lessons, but same difference, really) and also with pecan pie disillusionment. It should be so perfect, but so often it’s just brutally oversweet. A good one though, is quite breathtaking.
Tell me about Nuttellex – is it as nut-tasting as it sounds?
Teehee, love our many sychronicities! After a brief dabbling with ballet and tap in America I switched to gymnastics in Australia. Oh Laura, I used to be so darn flexible…
Not in the slightest! It’s just a non-scary margarine. (Don’t hurt me!)
I’m an absolute sucker for a good, sticky pecan pie and I’ll be printing off your recipe to add to my ‘Must Make Someday Soon’ folder!
Hurrah for the Must Make folder! I bet you could even throw in some chocolate chips
Aw shucks, such a bummer when things you bake to share don’t go quite right, and you have to eat them all by yourself – NOT! It’s totally the best part about baking for people.
Second only to getting to eat cake batter for breakfast
There can’t be too many things in the world that aren’t improved by being baked into a muffin. This is just more proof of that surely?
Exactly, my dear eponymous friend. Exactly.
these sound wonderful – and sound better than the cakes we have had at work lately (sshhh don’t tell)! The most memorable pecan pie experience for me was chocolate pecan pie – before blogging – keep thinking I should try and recreate for the blog but it was so rich I need a good reason. Maybe I just need to try these which sound like a worthy rival. Definitely something to sing about
Why, the reason should just be baking said pie for the blog to share with your pecan pie-yearning readers, surely? Do it for your country, Johanna! Your blogging country!
I was lucky in that my parents were too busy when I was little to really care about taking me to music lessons. My brother (who’s younger by almost 10 years) wasn’t so lucky. He was in primary school when my parents were retiring and haha he eventually became a musician. He’s now studying a Bachelor of Music.
I on the other hand, learnt the piano for a good half year during uni and decided I had better things to do than sitting down to practice.
I never had pecan pie as a child, don’t like it much now either as I’m not a big fan of muffins…but actually, having it with ice cream might become a more enjoyable experience!
Happy Chinese New Year!
Oh, that’s one way of looking at it, but I’ll always be grateful to my parents for encouraging, supporting, nagging, not allowing me to quit, and cheering me on with music. It’s brought me much joy and happiness
Teehee, sounds like you should just eat the ice cream then
These look delicious, and quite easily vegan, too.
Yes, I’d love to try them again with flax eggs! I wonder if that would help limit the gooeyness, too…
I had to giggle a little when I read this post. For its seems our ‘talents’ when younger could not be more opposite -….. I do not have a musical bone in my body!!!
Teehee, so true! And I don’t think I could run a marathon if my life depended on it!
We balance each other out 
Actually I do enjoy some of my baked goods undercooked and gooey. Still yummy… if not even nicer!
Amen, brother, amen. Particularly brownies
I too was learning the piano from age 5 to 12 while my school friends were playing sport. Reason? My brother Bruce (16 months younger) had a heart condition and couldn’t play sport until he got to his teens. We were very close as brothers, so my parents thought it best if I didn’t play sport too – so they got me into piano lessons. Bruce took up the drums. We played in a jazz band in our late teens. We went to so many jazz and rock concerts together. So, in a way, it was a blessing in disguise. And now you and I are singing together! Hopefully in a duet one day! Music makes the world go round. Pass you pecan pies around?
*your* pecan pies (please)
I remember you telling me this lovely story
And hey, you know I’m always up for baking! The only problem is our choir’s so big it’s hard to find recipes that can go around everyone…
True. True. Maybe save for a special occasion. I should take up baking soon. Soon soon!
“ridiculous over-achieving perfectionist tendencies” – that statement spoke volumes to me…
Not only does your blog provide delicious recipes for my tummy – it also provides food for my soul!
This is just the most wonderful thing to hear, Margaret. Honestly means to world xoxo
P.S. Particularly if it means we can learn to laugh at, rather than get sucked in by, our ridiculous over-achieving perfectionist tendencies
I really appreciate your reminder of how ridiculous it is to continually strive for perfectionism. xxxx
It helps me to think back and laugh at myself.
And to remember that nothing we were anxious about had any impact on our value as individuals
xo
So pretty Angle babe, I bet they taste like Gluten Free and Dairy Free Coconut Pecan Pie too
I’m so clever!
So very clever that if you were in the room I’d throw a chocolate at your head
Ooooh, I love a good pecan pie! A good pecan pie mind you, the one you’ve described does not sound like it was good at all. These muffins sound delicious and, as someone has already pointed out, could potentially be eaten for breakfast … not that those of us who eat jam roly poly or cheesecake for breakfast would hesitate to eat a good pecan pie in the morning …
Yes, the pecan pie I tried was the antithesis of good, unlike these delicious and hey-why-not breakfast creations
Teehee! You’ve got me there. I like being a dessert at any time of the day person…
I have quite a few friends who are gluten intolerant so I think this recipe might come in very useful. Thanks Hannah.
You’re more than welcome! We’ve got to make sure no one goes without dessert
Oh I had a scary piano teacher too. She kept nail clippers on the piano to attack you with if your nails were too long for example. However my parents let me just learn and not do exams so that reduced the stress somewhat.
I have also been disappointed by pecan pie in the past so I very much look forward to trying these.
Ooooh, I wonder if we had the same one?
Although I don’t think mine would have allowed learning without exams. She refused to teach my brother after a point because he “wasn’t taking it seriously”!
Yay muffins!
they look awesome and the fact that you got them so moist looking AND gf and df…amazing job!
Ha!! Do I remember heading out to the conservatorium for piano exams! And me too, nothing less than an A+ would do for this moron. And the eisteddfods! What awfulness. I remember a Liszt duet on stage. Still more of a Bach gal myself.
Now pecans. Where to find in this neck of the woods. I swoon. In the meantime I made caramel walnut slice for a party on the weekend and gathered the crumbs afterwards… Italians don’t do slices!
Oooh, you’re more over-achieving than me then! I used to feel like that about A+s, but thankfully got to the point when an A was acceptable too
Silly Italians! But I guess they do gelato. I still dream of the licorice gelato I found in Florence. *dreams*
P.S. Pecans are normally out of my budget, but I found a kilo at Costco so split them with my ma
Ahh! Pecan dreaming…
Dear Hannah,
I don’t know about you but I never got any sweet treats even though I did well at piano lessons. That photo of you at the piano is absolutely so cute, I’m sure your feet could barely reach the pedals at the time
Aw, thanks! Teehee, yes, there probably wasn’t much pedal action going on at that age. I am rather envious of my posture in that shot though!
What is eisteddfods? Why did you have music exams?? I’m so confused by your country! Exams sound so horrible, I would have squeaked and squelched my bow on the strings and FAILED. Because nothing less than an A+ would have done for me either.
Oh – the note on the kitchen scale that I received for Christmas said “For my little perfectionist.” We so similars:)
Eisteddfods are music competitions, but always (in my experience) more formal and scary than the other music competitions I did around Canberra. But hang on, I’m so confused. Surely you have music exams too? Otherwise you can’t go up a grade? I know that I have American friends who did exams…
Teehee! I adore my kitchen scales, but less because of loving precision than the fact that I can weigh all ingredients in the same bowl and thereby limit the number of measuring implements I have to wash up
I never had music exams, and I never got to go ‘up’ a grade. I’ve never even heard of grades! However, perhaps this is because I never took piano lessons, and maybe I was just lucky with violin teachers.
I suddenly feel like I’ve missed out on something [scary].
Fascinating! Of course, if you’re purely and simply learning for the fun of it, then why do exams? No one needs that stress, really
I admit there were times in my life when the idea of doing music more seriously did beckon, and so grades were important. However, once I completed the final grade (8) in piano in year 12, my teacher moved to Mozambique, and I ended up deciding to do an Arts degree instead of going to the School of Music 
I wouldn’t mind one right now. Ok, make it two. And a cup of hot cocoa. Now that’s an idea!
Oh yes, oh yes. Except I’ll switch the cocoa for a glorious black coffee
Oh my heavens yes. Pecan pie is what I’d have for dessert at my last meal if I were on death row or something. But one of these might suffice in the meantime.
Will you make me a good pecan pie then? Or a raw one. Which is not to imply that your raw pecan pie wouldn’t also be a good pecan pie. Because I’m sure it would be an amazing pecan pie.
I’m confused.
Let’s just simplify and make one of each.
I’ve always been a simple girl. I’m in.
Totally a win!! I used to get so nervous about piano & ballet exams! Mmmm crackle top. I have never had a pecan pie but gee whiz I want to. Major pecan craving now Hannah! What am I to do, hey? Get a tasti? Actually I’m 5 mins away from a pb tasti. True story, sorry to tease!!!
Heidi xo
Heidi, they totally had pecan pie flavour, didn’t they?! I feel sure I saw that! After all, they were serving pecan praline straight-up when we were there, so there’d have to be pecan pie.
That’s it. You need to hire me as your PA, like, now.
i love how simple this recipe it is! yay for GF muffins! pecan pie with a touch of coconut in a muffin just sounds divine.