Okay - well, I had to tie it into the home somehow, since that is the focus of my blog. But seriously, if you make these muffins, you can unplug the Glade for a day and enjoy the smell of major home-baked goodness.
This recipe evolved from a basic zucchini bread recipe my sister and I found online this summer. First, we realized we didn't have any oil after we had already shredded all the zucchini and begun making the recipe, so I suggested we substitute mayo. I recalled reading somewhere that some cake mixes work well with mayo and I thought, hey, why not give it a try? It worked wonderfully, adding a springiness to the texture and also, probably due to the egg protein in mayo, making the resulting bread extra-filling.
Every time I make this recipe, I seem to push the limit of the called-for amount of zucchini. If the recipe calls for 2 cups, I end up with 3 or 4. This last time, I shredded 4 small zucchinis, making about 4.5 cups. But again, the recipe never fails to amaze me. It worked beautifully with all that zucchini, and the more zucchini I use, the better I feel about eating these muffins.
The bread morphed into muffins during my first attempt to do this in my own home. I realized after making the mixture, which is enough to make two loaves of bread, that I only had one loaf pan in my house. But I did have a jumbo muffin tin. So I poured the mixture meant for the second loaf into a few of the jumbo muffins holes and bingo - the perfect take-along breakfast was born. Now I don't even bother with loaves - I make the jumbo muffins plus some extra mini-muffins. Aren't muffins just inherently more fun than bread?
Recipe: Hearty Spiced Zucchini Muffins
3 cups white whole wheat flour (or all purpose flour, or a blend of regular and whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 Tblsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Tblsp Ground Ginger
3 Eggs
1 cup Hellmans Mayo
1 2/3 cups Sugar
1 Tblsp Vanilla Extract
2.5-4.5 cups Grated Zucchini (NOT drained like other recipes call for)
(1 cup chopped walnuts - OPTIONAL)
1. Butter and flour 2 8"x4" loaf pans or a combination of two muffin tins (I have one 6-hole jumbo muffin tin and 1 12-hole small muffin tin)
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
3. Combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and ginger together in a large bowl and whisk thoroughly. (This bowl needs to be big enough for the whole mixture later.)
4. Beat eggs, mayo, vanilla, and sugar together in a smaller bowl.
5. Add wet mixture into dry ingredients and fold together until well combined. It will be very sticky and dry. Add zucchini into this mixture and mix thoroughly. (The moisture of the zucchini will aid in mixing.) Add nuts if desired.
6. Pour into prepared pans.
7. Bake until tester or knife comes out clean.
Loaves: 60-70 minutes at least
Muffins: 45 minutes
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