I think it would be safe to say that if nuts didn’t exist, neither would this blog. If there were no almonds, walnuts, pecans and hazelnuts to grind up and use in place of wheat flour, I would no longer be much of a baker. Oh sure, I’d make the occasional treat for my family and friends, but that would be rare and certainly not worth blogging about. Suffice it to say that nuts are the basis of almost all of my baked goods and play a major role in many of my other recipes too. I simply don’t know what I would do without them. And besides Brazil nuts, which I will forever maintain taste like dirt, I really haven’t met a nut I didn’t like. Cashews, walnuts, pecans, almonds, hazelnuts…you name it, I will eat it. Or grind it up into a flour and bake with it.
One nut I haven’t had a chance to work with much are macadamias. I’ve had them before, certainly, in cookies and dipped in chocolate. But I can’t think of when I’ve ever made anything with them myself. But I was contacted recently by Oh! Nuts, asking if I wanted to feature any of their products in my holiday baking. As you might guess, they are an online purveyor of premium nuts and nut products and I have worked with them before. I’ve always had a great experience, as well. From the moment I order something to the time the package arrives, it usually ends up being less than 48 hours. And the products themselves never disappoint. Their whole nuts are fantastic, and I think their almond flour is very good as well.
This time, I decided to break outside my comfort zone and try working with the macadamia nuts. I had lots of ideas for fancy desserts and was thinking of using the macadamias in a tart crust. Then I came across a lovely looking macadamia nut cake recipe from Technicolor Kitchen that included coconut and lime. This recipe ground up the macadamias to make them the base of the cake, along with a small amount of flour and I thought I could do an admirable job converting it to low carb and gluten free. But I changed my mind, as I am wont to do, and decided to take the flavours and make them into muffins. Because cake is always good, but muffins are a necessity. In the chaos that is morningtime with three small children, muffins are a quick, easy breakfast option that I can grab on the go.
The Results: I’m glad I did what I did here, because these flavours are fantastic in a muffin. What a great breakfast treat these were. My only regret is that I made a half-batch instead of a full (6 instead of 12). They went too quickly, especially since I let my husband have some. And now I am out of muffins and will have to come up with some other sort of breakfast item in the morning.
So many thanks to Oh! Nuts for supplying the macadamias for me to play with. A few quick notes here – macadamias have a high oil content and when grinding them, they can quickly become macadamia butter. Grind them only to the point where they resemble a coarse meal, don’t try to get them any finer than that. Also, if you are looking for a quick way to toast the coconut, just put it into a medium skillet over medium heat. Stir occasionally, until it begins to get light brown all over.
Macadamia Coconut Lime Muffins
2 cups unsalted macadamia nuts
2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut, lightly toasted
1/2 cup almond flour
1/4 cup granulated erythritol
2 tbsp unflavoured whey protein powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp lime zest
6 oz cream cheese, softened
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
10 drops stevia extract
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts
Glaze:
2 tbsp lime juice
1/3 cup powdered erythritol
Preheat oven to 325F and line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.
In a food processor fitted with a metal blade, process 2 cups of the macadamia nuts until finely ground but not pasty (be careful here – macadamias contain a lot of oil and become butter very quickly!). Transfer to a medium bowl and whisk in coconut, almond flour, granulated erythritol, unflavoured whey protein, baking soda, baking powder, salt and lime zest.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in eggs. Add macadamia nut mixture and beat until well combined. Beat in coconut oil, almond milk and stevia extract until fully combined. Stir in chopped macadamia nuts.
Divide batter between prepared muffin cups and bake 25 minutes, or until tops are set and a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool in pan.
For the glaze, whisk together lime juice and powdered erythritol until smooth. Drizzle over cooled muffins.
Serves 12. Each muffin has 7.1 g of carbs and 3.4 g of fiber. Total NET CARBS = 3.7 g.
I really, really love the flavors used here!!! I love nuts- i am a nut, so i love em. Can not wait to try this one, Carolyn. Thanks for sharing
i'm in love with macademia nuts, wish they were so darn expensive. and the coconut and lime, such an exotic combo. great looking muffins!
I am with you, I adore Oh Nuts! for their great service and quick shipping! The muffins sound fantastic 🙂
love this combination
Love it! And if nuts didn't exist… neither would vegetarians! 😀 LOVE coconut, lime, and macadamia nuts… and I'd eat these muffins for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack time! 😀
I've never heard of Oh Nuts! so I'm glad you were asked to test their stuff. I'm especially glad because I don't think there's a chance I can find unsalted macadamia nuts in the stores around here and I'd love to make these for my mom. Ok, they're for myself, but she'll benefit too. 🙂
Ooooh, what a heavenly flavor combination, and low carb, too! You're a wizard 😉
Since I've been craving all kinds of coconut, I'll have to give these a try.
Oh dear, if nuts were't here…ohh I don't know either! i used them in so many desserts, probably in 90% of them:)) These muffins look AMAZING! Love the photos are recipe is a keeper!!!
I love this combo, these really do sound amazingly good.
wow! You really do know how to pull at my heart! You have all my favorite flavors here. I simply adore maadamia, so I'm really glad you went that direction!
Those are three of my favorite flavors to put together! A little white chocolate thrown in never hurt anyone either!
Wow, some of my favorite flavors wrapped into one great bite! Bookmarked!
I don't think I've ever baked with macadamia nuts. My go to is always peanuts, cashews or almonds but I love how you incorporated them into a citrus flavor baked good.
Maybe if I made these I would be whisked away to a tropical island and out of this cold? Love everything in them.
That glaze is to die for! And these muffins are transporting me to some where warm and sunny!!
Love, love macadamias! They have to be one of my all time favorites up there with cashews.
We were just going through the pantry tonight and the husband said to me, "What do you plan to make with that coconut?" Now I can tell him muffins! These sound sooo good. I"m a huge lover of macadamia nuts.
Yum! Love the lime in these muffins. I love Oh! Nuts – I've bought several of their nut flours and their chia seeds.
I think I want a taste of everything. Except brussels. Childhood issues with those. But everything else is a yes. If I lived next door to you I'd find reasons to "drop over." LOL.
I was soooo relieved when my son's results came back to say he was only alleegic to peanuts and not all nuts. Love the lime-action in here!
So tropical! Love getting a ray of sunshine like these muffins in midwinter…
Such a gorgeous tropical combination!!! I love lime and coconut!
These look amazing!! I got Macadamia Nuts from Oh! Nuts as well! Now I have to see if I can make these in a high carb way 🙂
Looks delicious! I love coconut!
Ah, many a person has been scarred by bad brussels sprouts experiences! But glad you like the rest of the recipes.
Carolyn
Blog: All Day I Dream About Food
URL: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com
Erin, you could easily make a regular version of these. I'd say do a mostly-flour based muffin but sub in maybe 1/2 cup of ground macs. Then do the chopped up macs in the batter too. I think you could get similar results in flavour.
Carolyn
Blog: All Day I Dream About Food
URL: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com
These flavors sound great Caroline. I wondered about the fat content in the grinding too before reading what you wrote. I've spent a great deal of time in Hawaii where these are native and they ARE delicious but high in fat (which makes them delicious). Glad you found such an interesting way to use them and thanks for sharing your methods.
Here's your Caribbean past creeping into a muffin. Love these! They sound fresh and light and packed with amazing flavor 🙂 And they're super cute which gives them extra points 🙂
Buzzed!
Yum! I actually have ALL the ingredients at home… so I guess I know what I'm doing tonight. 🙂
Is there something I can substitute in place of the coconut – I love coconut milk, coconut oil and coconut flour, but don't like coconut flakes. Maybe flax or extra almond flour and maybe coconut extract for the flavor? What would you suggest? Thanks
Baked goods often tend to disappear around husbands — but that gives you an excuse to make some more now! 😉
Macademia is one of my favorite nuts, and both the hubby and I love coconut too, so I think those muffins would be a winner for us. I'll just have to make sure to bake a double batch 🙂
Hi Cindy,
I think either flax or almond flour would be fine to help replace the coconut. Or you could just skip it altogether, but I can't be sure of the texture of the muffin. The macadamias are so oily and might need a little propping up with a fiberous substance.
Carolyn
Blog: All Day I Dream About Food
URL: https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com
Oh, yeah….this flavor combo has to be one of my Top 5! YUM!
I wish you were my sister~~!!!!!!
These muffins look delicious! Love the generous drizzle of icing 🙂
I love these and that lime glaze is killing me, not to mention macadamia nuts are my fav in baked goods. You certainly put the lime in macadamia nut! Can I make these without the whey powder?
Totally agree with you about Brazil nuts…I just can't get myself to like them! They're always left in the bag of mixed nuts.
These muffins sound perfect…love the flavors. They look like they would be a nice light bite.
delicious combination this looks wonderful
Oh I love these! I think they just might be the perfect treat to get rid of some of these wintery blues!!
I am looking for a cup cakes or muffin that I can make and prepare as a gift to my friends and I think this one is perfect.
These look great! Unfortunatly I am the only nut lover in this house, but I bet if I made a batch of these, everyone would eat them! Great looking muffins!
oh my – I love all these flavours. particularly the lime. It goes so great in sweet stuff
A BIG taste of the tropics with these beauties! Great muffin recipe 🙂
Love this recipe! I have a couple of questions… I have seen that the primary sweetener you use for your recipes is Erythritol but you also add a few drops of Stevia, for what purpose do you add the Stevia? (I cannot stand the taste of Stevia so I am afraid to put it in and have the product come out with a Stevia taste or even the after-taste of Stevia).
Also, I have attempted to add Whey Protein to few recipes and it always leaves a very distinct flavor that many people do not like (including most of my family). I use BioChem Natural Whey Protein. Does the protein powder you use leave a Whey flavor as well?
Thank you for all of the WONDERFUL recipes, you are a genius!
Hi. I use stevia in conjunction with erythritol because they enhance each other’s sweetness and help reduce the after taste for both. Try it, I think you will find this recipe doesn’t have any aftertaste. As for the whey, I use Jarrow and I’ve never noticed the taste of whey in my baked goods. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0013OSK8Q/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0013OSK8Q&linkCode=as2&tag=aldaidrabfo05-20
Carolyn, do you mind telling me what brand of whey protein powder you use. I’ve yet to buy it, and want to get a good brand. And, by the way, I adore brazil nuts, a remembrance from my childhood when mother would take me to the “dime” store and they would have big bins of Brach’s Nut Mix – She bought the mix often, and I would always pick out the plump, fat, chocolate covered brazil nuts first. Good memories…
You can have all of my Brazil nuts then! 😉 I like Jarrow and I usually buy the organic version. Their vanilla is very low carb compared to some others http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B0YEZ8S/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00B0YEZ8S&linkCode=as2&tag=aldaidrabfo05-20
I’m a little confused about how many nuts to chop and stir in and how many to grind. Could you help me please?
Sorry, I fixed the recipe. It should not have said “divided” above. 2 cups for the flour and 1/2 cup chopped to stir in afterward. Does that help?