Coffee and fig muffins topped with coconut frosting – a finalist in the innocent Dairy Free Cook Off

Noirin Kelly came in third place at the innocent Dairy Free Cook Off with her coffee and fig muffins recipe using innocent dairy free almond flavour. 

Noirin Kelly managed to bake delicious muffins with a coconut-heavy frosting – and each of them was only 120 calories.

Noirin’s recipe, using innocent dairy free almond, placed third in the Dairy Free Cook Off. She took home a year’s supply of the innocent dairy free range.

Speaking to image.ie, Noirin said, “I’m always baking at home, I never stop! I do a lot of running, so I’m always looking for recipes that’ll help with recovery because after a long, hard run, you’re looking for something that really tastes nice but you don’t want to eat rubbish.”

Here is Norin’s winning recipe to try at home.

Coffee and fig muffins topped with coconut frosting and a little ginger using innocent dairy free almond

Serves 12 muffins

Ingredients

• 220g finely chopped figs
• 250 ml innocent almond
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp powdered coffee
• 130g cooked sweet potato puree (mash)
• 80g whole wheat flour
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• 80g plain flour
• 100g packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ freshly ground nutmeg

For the frosting

• 2 cans full fat coconut milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp honey crystallised ginger

Method

Grease your muffin tin or line it with muffin wrappers. Preheat your oven to 180° or 170° if a fan-assisted oven. Place figs in a bowl, heat the innocent dairy free almond until it’s hot, but not boiling. Pour in over the figs and stir in the baking soda and 2 tbsp of powdered coffee, leave to sit undisturbed for 5 minutes. Put eggs, brown sugar and honey in a bowl and whisk with an electric mixer for 3 minutes until thick. Add the sweet potato puree and mix until just combined.

In a separate bowl, stir together the flours, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Using your electric mixer on low speed, add the fig mixture to the egg mixture, then slowly add in the flours and spices, mix until combined. Do not over mix. Pour your batter evenly into your prepared muffin tin, about ¾ way up. Bake for 15-20 minutes checking after 15 minutes. If the cake springs back after being gently poked they are done, otherwise put them in for a few more minutes.

When baked pop them out of the tin sit them on a wire rack to cool. Take out just the thick cream part from both tins of coconut milk and put in a bowl. If you don’t like a lot of frosting then one can might work for you. Add in the vanilla extract and honey and whip for 5 minutes.
Put all the frosting into a piping bag with a shaped metal tip and pipe out onto fully cooled muffins. Slice the crystallised ginger into small pieces and place decoratively on top.

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Follow Noirin’s recipes on her Instagram @noirinkelly. 

For more on the innocent dairy free range, which has four flavours: coconut, oat, almond and hazelnut, see here.