August is often a time of year when home gardeners find themselves with a surplus of fresh vegetables such as zucchini. I didn’t manage to plant any vegetables this year, but I can’t walk past a farmer’s market without snagging a few beautiful looking vegetables. I simply couldn’t pass these enormous zucchini up! Normally there would be no issue finding ways to use it all up, but we have a ton of food this week, so I had to get creative. Here is what I came up with!
This recipe can be lightened up in several ways if you are watching your waistline. Swap out the sugar for stevia or splenda to cut back on the sugar. Swap all of the oil for applesauce to cut the fat down or switch all the flour out for whole wheat flour to increase the nutrition.
Ingredients:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 3 eggs
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3-4 cups grated zucchini
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a medium bowl, sift or whisk together the flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
In a large bowl combine the oil, eggs, applesauce, sugars and vanilla. Whisk until well combined.
Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing with a wooden spoon until just combined.
Add the grated zucchini and walnuts. Mix to combine.
Either grease a regular muffin tin or line with paper cupcake liners. Fill about ¾ of the way up with zucchini mixture.
Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. They are baked through when a toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin comes out clean.
Let cool five minutes before removing from the pan. Cool on a cook rack if you can wait that long or serve them warm with butter.
Feel Great Plates 