Whole-Wheat Zucchini Muffins

I made these muffins quite some time ago, and never finished logging the recipe. When I wanted to make them again today, I could not find the recipe. Fortunately, I found this blog post I had started in 2014, along with a picture of the finished product! 


2014 photo showing muffins made
following the first recipe below
2016 photo - no frosting this time!












If you are familiar with my cooking and baking methods, you know that I often use recipes as ideas, and create with ingredients I have on hand. Therefore, there are two recipe variations in this post. The first one, is the simpler version from 2014, and the second recipe goes with the 2016 muffin photo.


Ingredients - 12 muffins

1 cup shredded zucchini squash, squeezed dry - I always shred the squash first, and then place it in a colander to drain until needed
2 eggs
2016 photo, yellow squash slightly
visible if you click on the photo to enlarge it

⅓ cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
¼ cup fat-free buttermilk, or milk
Dash lemon juice (omit, if using buttermilk)  
1 cup whole-wheat flour
¾ cup all purpose flour
¾ cup sugar substitute
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt

Cream Cheese Frosting, optional

4 ounces low fat cream cheese
½ cup powdered sugar - or, blend Truvia with ½ teaspoon cornstarch for 2 to 3 minutes until powdery
½ teaspoon vanilla


Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray. Set aside.


ready for the oven
In a large bowl, mix eggs, yogurt, buttermilk or milk, and lemon juice, if using. Stir in zucchini. Squeeze remaining liquid from squash as you add it in. Combine dry ingredients and stir into moist ingredients just until combined. 

Divide among muffin cups (mixture with be thick). Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean—22 to 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes.

For frosting, combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla. Frost muffins when cool. Store in refrigerator.
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The second time I prepared these muffins, there were a couple of factors that affected the changes I made. I had medium size eggs instead of large, I had a surplus of sourdough starter and yellow summer squash, and I had an open jar of applesauce in the fridge. I altered the recipe as follows.


some of the ingredients I used in 2016

Ingredients - 12 muffins

1 cup shredded summer squash, squeezed dry - I used about  zucchini and  yellow squash
2 medium eggs
⅓ cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
Dash lemon juice 
1 tablespoon unsweetened applesauce  
¼ cup unfed or discarded sourdough starter
1 cup whole-wheat flour
¾ cup, minus 2 tablespoons, all purpose flour
⅔ cup sugar substitute
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt


Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix eggs, yogurt, milk, lemon juice, and applesauce. Stir in squash and sourdough starter. Combine dry ingredients and stir into moist ingredients just until combined.



Divide among muffin cups (mixture with be thick). Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean—22 to 25 minutes. Cool 10 minutes.


air pockets created from the sourdough
are visible in the photo when enlarged


The muffins did not darken as much when I made them with the sourdough starter; however, they were super moist and delicious! The flavor was just right; I did not put any frosting on the muffins. If you want them a bit sweeter, you might try sprinkling the tops with a mixture of cinnamon sugar just before the end of the baking time.

Please let me know if you have any questions. Feel free to share this post!



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