Zucchini Muffins x2

Early this year, the ISO moved to our beautiful, brand new corporate headquarters across town. There are many attributes that have lead us to our LEED platinum certification (yay!), but even better, there is now a community garden called "The Power Plant"! Cute, right? This year, our department was able to get about one and a half planter boxes (there was more or less of a sign up now before there all gone kind of a thing) with rich soil for us to plant whatever our hearts desired. This came at perfect timing too since the VP of our group was putting some of her own plants from her greenhouse up for adoption. 

I decided to adopt a couple of plants - san marzano tomatoes, globe eggplant and some parsley. I thought it would be fun to bring mine home and to try to grow them on my patio. Well, the eggplant is still going strong (no fruit yet - sad!), but the parsley has recently passed on and the tomato has been long gone. That thing loved the rain and cold weather more then it did the sunny and warm weather. Such a strange thing. Needless to say, I really should have put my plants with the rest of the groups, because all of those plants a growing big and strong! We have tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, melon, herbs and even zucchini!

This week, there were tomatoes and zucchini harvested - correction HUGE zucchini - and I was asked if I would like it. Of course I would like it, I love zucchini. But, in light of the biggest zucchini yet, I decided to make something the whole group would enjoy instead of just keeping it for myself. It didn't take long before I knew exactly what I was going to make. Zucchini muffins! Not just any kind though. Two kinds. I decided to spice it up and do one batch of regular and one batch of dark chocolate chip and walnuts. I guess the group liked them, because they were gone in a flash! 

the two zucchini's harvested. You can't really see the bigness yet...

This picture still does not do it justice. It was BIG.

On to the muffins!

mmm zucchini and dark chocolate (I saw these as a new item in the grocery store and could not pass them up!)

super awesome kitchen aid attachment given to me by Ryan's mom - thanks Kris! This make shredding and slicing things a snap!

ribbons of zucchini. YUM.

swirling zucchini and sugar and eggs

ready to bake

out of the oven and ready for my tummy. Oh shoot, can't eat these - they are for work!

Zucchini Muffins Two Ways (adapted from simplyrecpies.com)

 

3 cups grated fresh zucchini
2/3 cup melted unsalted butter
1 1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons baking soda
Pinch salt
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup walnuts 

1/2 cup to 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the zucchini mixture and mix in. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir these dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture.  Note - if you are going to make two types stop here. Fill 12 muffin tins with the zucchini mixture. Then, stir in walnuts and chocolate chips to the remaining batter (if using) and fill up the remaining tins. When I did this, I got about 12 regular zucchini muffins and about eight chocolate ones. This will vary by how much you fill up your tins. If you'd like more, just double the recipe!

Coat each muffin cup in your muffin pan with a little butter or vegetable oil spray or line with paper liners. Use a spoon or scoop to distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, filling the cups up completely. Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick or a thin bamboo skewer to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin let cool another 20 minutes.

 Who can say no to the sweetness of cinnamon and sugar (and dark chocolate!)? These are dense and delicious and I promise that these will be a favorite in your house and even change the mind of those who do not like zucchini!

ps. These muffins are great to make in large batches if you have an abundance of zucchini from your garden. They freeze well and are great to have on hand for a quick snack or breakfast. Let be honest, who doesn't love muffins?