Chocolate Zucchini Muffin Recipe

Early this week, I talked about ways to preserve all of those zucchini and summer squash that overtake our late summer gardens, and today, I’m going to share one of my favorite recipes for using that produce.  Chocolate zucchini muffins are moist, delicious and the perfect treat for Sunday brunch.  They are also a favorite with kids!  Best yet, they are easy to make, regardless of the season.

Ingredients:

1 c. Brown Sugar

1 c. White Sugar

3 c. Flour (I often use 2 c. AP and 1 c. whole wheat)

1/2 c. Baking Cocoa

1 T. Baking Soda

1 t. Baking Powder

1 t. Salt

1 T. Cinnamon

3 Eggs

1 T Vanilla

1 c. Vegetable Oil

2.5 c. Grated Zucchini (If you are using frozen zucchini, let it thaw on the counter before mixing it in.  You may need to adjust the flour and/or cocoa if the zucchini is watery.  I do this all the time, and the muffins still come out great!).

1 Bag Milk Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

1. Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  If your cocoa powder is particularly clumpy, run it through a sifter first. 

2. Beat in eggs, vanilla and oil.

3. Fold in zucchini and then stir in chocolate chips.

4. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.

5. Enjoy!

The best part about these muffins is that all you need are the muffins.  They are delightfully moist and the chocolate chips remain soft and gooey, even in the prepared muffins. 

Pumpkin Spice Bread

Disclaimer: This is a recipe that I make all. the. time.  I initially had it posted on an old blog, but as I was digging pumpkin puree out of the fridge this morning to make it, I realized that I had not shared it here yet.  Bake at your own risk, though, this bread (or muffins!) is as delicious as it is healthy!

The first step of making this delicious bread is roasting the fresh pumpkin.  If you want to used canned pumpkin, just skip this step and move onto the bread recipe.

To Roast Pumpkin:

Cut a small pumpkin in half, scoop out the innards, and roast for 1 hour at 325 degrees.  When cooked through (fork tender), puree in a blender or food processor.  Then, it’s ready to use!

Pumpkin Flax-seed Bread

Makes 1 Large Loaf of Bread or 12 Muffins (I almost always make this as muffins!

Ingredients:

1 c. roasted pumpkin, pureed (or 7.5 oz. canned pumpkin)

2 eggs

¼ c. vegetable oil

¼ c. apple sauce (you can use ½ c. oil and omit apple sauce)

1/3 c. apple cider (or water)

1/2 c. white sugar

½ c. brown sugar

1c. whole wheat flour

¾ c. all-purpose flour

1 t baking soda

1 t kosher salt

2 t cinnamon

½ t nutmeg

½ t cloves

1 t ginger

1/4 c. flax-seed

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour one large bread pan, or line 12 muffin cups.

1. In a bowl, blend together pumpkin, eggs, oil, applesauce, cider and sugars.

2. Then mix in remaining dry ingredients.  As I use a KitchenAid stand mixer, I skip the step of pre-combining these ingredients.  If working by hand, combine dry ingredients before adding them to the pumpkin mixture.

3. Bake approximately one hour, until a center-inserted fork comes out clean.

Variation: I’m sure this bread would be just delicious with a cup of milk chocolate chips folded in right before baking.  You could also add 1 c. of walnuts, if you wanted a richer bread.