When Life Gives Your Zucchini, Make Zucchini Muffins

My mom visits an Amish auction about twice a month, where she can pick up fresh veggies, baking supplies, and sometimes even baked goods for a price far cheaper than any grocery store.

The last time she was there, I asked if she could pick up a couple zucchini for me – just a couple. I had plans to grow some of my own this year, before I discovered Cosmo is part dog and part goat, with a special taste for vegetable plants. Zucchini have been fairly rare at the grocery, and I was thinking a batch of muffins sounded good.

When my mom brought me my zucchini on Sunday, I was a little surprised to find 14 zucchini in the box! Even better, she bought the entire box for $1.50 AND she was disappointed because if she had waited for one of the later boxes she could have paid only $0.75! I reassured her that she still got quite a deal.

So now my fridge is filled with zucchini and I’m in baking mode.

I’ve posted my zucchini muffin recipe before, but I think it’s worth re-posting. I’m domestically challenged, but even I can put these together and make them taste delicious. And I love that I’m getting my kids to eat vegetables. The first time I made these I didn’t tell the girls what was in them until they already liked the muffins. Now that they’re already hooked, they ask for zucchini muffins all the time. Parenting win!

Should you ever find yourself with a fridge full of zucchini, or even just a couple of them, give this recipe a try!

Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (I prefer whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon*
* substitute nutmeg or other spice here if you have a cinnamon allergy (my girls have mostly outgrown their intolerance to it)
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup natural applesauce (no sugar added)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar *
* you can use all white sugar if you like, but I prefer the addition of brown – go with your preference
3 teaspoons vanilla extract (REAL vanilla ONLY)
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1. Grease two muffin pans. (I use cooking spray.) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Don’t have a sifter? A whisk works well enough.

3. Beat eggs, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and sugars together in a large bowl. Add sifted dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour or spoon into greased muffin pans, filling each space only 2/3 to 3/4 full to allow for expansion. (OK, I’ll be honest here. I top them off for bigger muffins.)

4. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in pan on racks for 20 minutes. Then remove muffins from pan and completely cool.

Cooling them while still in the pan is important. I found if I take them out of the pan too soon, they become hard on the outside.

If you’re going to keep these muffins around for more than a few days (good luck – they go fast here), store them in the fridge. A quick 5-10 sec. microwave zap will warm them up again.

They can also be frozen if you choose to make several batches due to getting 14 zucchini all at once. Just sayin’.

Also, while I may call it “my” recipe, it’s actually a slightly modified version of a zucchini bread recipe on AllRecipes.com. Changes to the original recipe included cutting the oil in half and substituting applesauce for the other half, using whole wheat flour, cutting back on the amount of sugar and using brown sugar. I’ve tried several variations on the recipe, including substituting 1/2 cup of ground flax seed for 1/2 cup of flour, and nearly every variation has still turned out well. It’s a great recipe to play with and make your own.

Added bonus: after baking these, your entire house smells delicious for the next 12 hours!