zucchini carrot muffins

Okay, first off I need to say that the banana bread recipe from last week? My mom did a fantastic job of adapting that one from some random cookbook of hers, and that's the recipe I used. Honestly, I meant to put it in that one, but forgot, so this will have to do!

And now that my mom's not angry with me, here's a spiel about this week's recipe - zucchini carrot muffins. I remember the first time I had zucchini (at least, the first time I remember eating it), it was in chocolate zucchini loaf, and I honestly don't think I could taste the vegetable (fruit?) at all. This is kind of the same deal. I'd stumbled across the recipe (which you can find here at Multiply Delicious, although I've modified it a bit), so when the boy asked if I could make some muffins for him to have for breakfast and take to work, I was all for it.

Until I realised how long it would take me to grate enough carrot and zucchini for a triple batch. (That's right, I didn't learn my triple-batch lesson from last weekend!) But I powered through, and I (we) was (were) definitely rewarded with these little guys! So tasty. And now, it's your turn!

Zucchini Carrot Muffins

Makes 6-8 muffins

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbsp. canola oil (I used olive oil, that works too)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 large egg
1 cup grated zucchini (about 1 small-to-medium zucchini, not that I'm an expert on average sizes for zucchini)
1 cup grated carrot (about 2 1/2 medium sized carrots)
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted (5-8 minutes in a baking pan at 375°F should do it)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg (or pumpkin pie spice works as well, if you're relatively spiceless like I am)

Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease the muffin pan - either the old-fashioned way with butter, or with some nonstick cooking spray. You can use liners if you'd like, but we were planning on freezing them, and I find the paper always sticks after they defrost. Next, whisk together the sugar, egg, oil, and salt. Yes, with the whisk attachment for your mixer (if you've got one, otherwise you could probably just do it by hand). I thought using a whisk for muffins was weird too, but it worked.

For the zucchini and carrot, I found doing the zucchini on the "regular cheese" grater, and the carrot on the "tiny cheese/zester" grater, worked the best, if that helps.

Add the zucchini and carrot, as well as the toasted pecans, and mix well. Yes, it's supposed to look like this. Don't worry.

In a separate bowl, whisk together (hope you have a lot of whisks!) the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, spices).

Then add them in to the other mixture and mix until just combined - I just did this part with a spoon.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups, let them sit in the pan on the counter for 5-10 minutes, and then bake for 18-25 minutes.

When they're out of the oven, let them sit in the pans for 10 minutes, then pull out of the pan to cool completely on wire racks, and you'll get something that looks like this:

I can personally vouch for these guys freezing/defrosting well, because I've tried it myself, and they're still delicious. Plus, when you're in zucchini/carrot-grating mode, it's almost easier to do a big batch. I tripled it and wound up with 2 dozen decently sized muffins, so it's definitely worthwhile to pre-bake these ones. Plus they're sooooo delicious. Try them yourself and see!

Enjoy!
c.