Late Summer Zucchini Muffins

I realized I still had a few leftover zucchini from when I made this pizza last week and since I hate to waste food, I thought I might as well put them to good use. I mean, what’s one more baked good in our lives? And, I’m happy to announce that these might actually be considered healthy! Zucchini is a vegetable, after all.

I love these muffins because they are incredibly light and not overly sweet. Some people like to put walnuts in their zucchini muffins and you can certainly do that with these. I just didn’t because I didn’t have any on hand and wasn’t about to make a grocery store run at nine in the morning. These are perfect split open and dabbed with butter, or even raspberry jam. I like to eat them alongside a salad with lunch or, if I’m feeling frisky, whip up a batch of cream cheese frosting and turn them into cupcakes!

So here’s what you need for success:

Now, grate your zucchinis. You’re going to need a cup and a half, and I’ve figured that’s about two and a half small zucchinis. If you have a very large zucchini, one might be all you need but make sure you actually measure it out just to make sure.

Set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together one and a half cups flour, a half cup of brown sugar, a half cup of white sugar, two teaspoons baking powder, a half teaspoon of salt, a half teaspoon of cinnamon and a fourth of a teaspoon of ground nutmeg.

There!

Set it aside and grab another bowl. In this bowl, combine one third cup canola oil

the zucchini, two eggs and a teaspoon of vanilla. I just use the same measuring cup for everything—saves dishes!

Stir it all together…

And then add the wet to the dry ingredients.

Be careful here—you don’t want to overmix or else your muffins will become like rocks. Trust me on this one.

Fill up your prepared muffin tins about seventy five percent full with the batter. I use this handy dandy ice cream scoop thing to do the trick, but any spoon will do.

Set the filled muffin tins aside for a second and make the topping! Just simply combine about three tablespoons of sugar with two teaspoons of cinnamon and sprinkle over each muffin.

This will make more cinnamon sugar than you actually need but it’s always great to have on hand for late night cinnamon toast cravings, ya know?

Bake the muffins for about thirty minutes, or until they spring back when lightly touched and have started to turn golden.

Now eat and enjoy. If you’re anything like me, you eat one, give your boyfriend two and then stick the rest in the freezer along with everything else in your life. Hey, it works.

Late Summer Zucchini Muffins

Makes 16

1.5 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1.5 cups grated zucchini (about two small-medium sized zucc’s)

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp vanilla extract (or, vanilla paste)

1/3 cup canola oil

2 tsp baking powder

Cinnamon and sugar for topping

Preheat the oven to 375. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugars, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the grated zucchini, eggs, vanilla and oil. Stir well to combine and then gently stir into the flour mixture. Be careful not to overwork this—it will lead to dense muffins!

Fill lined muffin tins about 3/4th of the way up with the batter and then sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on each. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden.