Harpoon Hanna's Coconut Muffins Copycat

UPDATE! : I've recently remade these muffins using regular milk and a little bit of the vanilla butter & nut flavoring that I said I wanted to try and I think I hit the jackpot! They really are like Harpoon Hanna's muffins. Delicious! Also, the texture just isn't the same if applesauce is used. You can still use it if you wish, but if you're not too worried about it, definitely go with the oil. I've modified the recipe below. I've also edited the title to reflect what this recipe is really about.

I mentioned last post that I had finally created a recipe that I could call my own, and so now, here it is! This muffin recipe is copycat of a muffin I encountered when I was on vacation. I went to a restaurant called Harpoon Hanna's, and what they do is send around someone with a basket of bread and muffins for you to have while you're waiting for your food. One of the items was a coconut muffin, and although I'm always a bit iffy on coconut, I decided to try one anyway. And OMG! Amazing muffin!! It was so delicious that I decided there on the spot to try and recreate the recipe when I got home. So what I did was start off with a very basic muffin recipe that I found here on Allrecipes. And then I tweaked and tweaked the recipe until I finally got a delicious muffin! I went through 3 trials before I achieved really great coconut muffins, and then went through one last 4th trial just to substitute some applesauce for some of the oil, and it turned out great. I don't think they're quite as good as Harpoon Hanna's, but they still are a darn good muffin and one that I'm very proud that I was able to create.

The muffins are nice and fluffy and almost cupcake-like, which was like the muffins at Harpoon Hanna's. The muffins there though almost seemed to taste a bit like yellow cake mix, which I was going to try and compensate for by adding a little vanilla butter & nut flavoring, which I've mentioned before is basically like yellow cake mix in a bottle, but I also knew that I wanted to be able to share this recipe and a lot of people might have trouble finding it. In the end, I left it out, but if you ever happen to come across some, try it! It would probably be great in the muffins! (Edit: As I've mentioned in my update above, I ended up using it and it really makes the muffin. Try and find it, if you can. If not, just use regular vanilla in place of it.) The muffins also have a great, not too overpowering coconut flavor and a nice finish of vanilla. I think I did the best I could do, but you never know...I could still try tweaking it some more and making it an even better recipe! If I do, I'll be sure to post updates on this post. So if you're in the mood for coconut, or if you happen to also have been to Harpoon Hanna's and had their amazing coconut muffins, give this recipe a try and tell me what you think! I'd love feedback!

Coconut Muffins (base recipe from Allrecipes, all tweaks and changes made by yours truly)
** I must warn you. I have never made a batch of this scaled up recipe. All trials I did were in 1/4 batches that made about 4 muffins. Note that this scaled up recipe should make anywhere from 12-16 muffins. I have never had trouble scaling up or down recipes, so this one should be fine.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
  
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla butter & nut flavoring
  
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut, plus more for garnish if desired
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line muffin tin(s) with paper liners.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and both sugar until well combined. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, oil, and extracts until combined. Create a well in the dry ingredients and then pour the wet ingredients into the well. Mix until the flour is almost all the way incorporated and then add the shredded coconut. Continue mixing JUST until combined. Do NOT overmix!
4. Fill the muffin cups 3/4 of the way full with batter and sprinkle with extra coconut if desired. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one of the muffins comes out clean. Cool muffins in the pan for about 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.