Chocolate zucchini muffins are one excellent example of end-of-season, use-up-everything-in-your-garden deliciousness. Except I don't have a garden. Every September I wish I had a garden, but I am not a green thumb girl, and never really have been. Mostly because to be a green thumb girl you also have to be a spider girl, and I f'ing hate spiders. I hate them much more than I love the satisfaction of having my own garden. Lucky for me though, I have a lot of neighbors and friends who garden (and subsequently must enjoy spiders, to which I say, wtf), and these friends share with me.
I have acquired in the last weeks a shit ton of zucchini from my garden friends, and these chocolate zuchinni muffins are my favorite thing I have done with them. My second favorite is this. My third favorite was swapping shredded zucchini with the corn in my fresh corn fritter recipe. You should def check them all out.
A few things to know about baking with zucchini before you start...
- Grating it on a cheese grater is the way to go. The fine strands melt right into the batter when baking and you won't even know they are there.
- Don't squeeze all the water from the zucchini after you shred it, only squeeze it out a little. A lot of recipes tell you to squeeze out as much water as possible, and why they say this, I will never understand. Who the hell wants dry muffins?? Not me! I don't want soggy ones either, don't get me wrong, so squeeze some, but not a all - a gentle squeeze will do.
With that out of the way, all I have left to say is that if you have a chocolate zucchini muffin that you already use, what sets mine apart is the nice addition of cinnamon. Cinnamon and chocolate go so nicely together in a breakfast treat...oh and maybe the chocolate glaze (yeah, like the kind you put on donuts) sets these apart as well. And also turns them into a cupcake if you really think about it.
Chocolate zucchini muffins
Ingredients
For the muffins
- 2 cups grated zucchini gently drained
- 1 ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
For the chocolate glaze
- 1 ½ cups powdered (confectioner's) sugar
- 4 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons milk or water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350 and line muffin pan with paper liners.
- To make the muffins, in a large bowl whisk together the sugars, oil, eggs, and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients into the sugar mixture and mix until just combined.
- Fold in zucchini until it is evenly distributed into the batter.
- Scoop the batter into the muffin cups about ⅔ full - I use an ice cream scoop and I don't make overflowed scoops.
- Bake for about 20 minutes or until puffed in center and spring back when touched. Let cool completely while you whip up the glaze.
- To make the chocolate glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar and cocoa powder until most lumps are gone (at least all of the large ones). Slowly add the milk and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Add more milk a ½ teaspoon at a time to you get your optimum pourable consistency. Dip the cooled muffin tops into the glaze or drizzle the tops - either way you're good.
