Zucchini Muffins
January 27, 2012 in Hidden Veggies, Muffins and Coffee Cakes
I love cooking muffins full of vegetables (both when I can sneak vegetables in and when that vegetable is the star of the muffin). This recipe is based on my mother’s zucchini bread recipe, which I grew up adoring. This paleofied version is not very sweet, but my toddler and husband love them and will argue over who gets to eat the last one (which is pretty much my gauge of kitchen success). I have also tried this recipe as a mini loaf and it seems to work well (not sure about how evenly it would bake as a regular sized loaf, so if you try it, leave a comment to let me know how it works!). Makes: 12 big muffins (you could easily stretch the batter to 14-15 muffins if you have more than one pan).
Ingredients:
- 2 large (or 3 medium) zucchini, grated (about 3 cups or a little more)
- 4 eggs
- ¼ cups Extra Virgin Coconut Oil, melted
- 1/3 cup Brown Sugar or Sucanat
- 1 cup Walnuts
- 1 ½ cup Blanched Almond Flour
- ½ cup Coconut Flour
- 1 tsp Ground Allspice
- 1 tsp Ground Nutmeg
- 1 tsp Ground Ginger
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 ¼ tsp Baking Soda
- ½ tsp Salt
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a muffin pan with coconut oil or palm shortening or use Silicone Muffin Cups
2. Grind walnuts in a Food Processor
3. Combine ground walnuts, almond flour, coconut flour, spices, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl.
4. Mix grated zucchini, sugar, egg and melted coconut oil together in a large bowl.
5. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir to combine.
6. Scoop mixture into prepared muffin pan and bake for 30 minutes. Enjoy!
Just made these and cannot stop eating them! I substituted a half bananna and a little bit of honey for the sugar and it was sweet enough for my “new toned down sweet tooth!” Love your recipes. Thanks for doing all the hard work so we can enjoy them!
Doesn’t the brown sugar make this non paleo?
I’ve addressed my use of granulated sugar is some recipes in this post: http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/03/is-sugar-paleo.html
I think it does but you can use stevia or honey
This looks great! Two quick Qs: can I sub anything for coconut flour? I have almond meal/ flour & flaxseed meal in the pantry. Also, do I measure the coconut oil before it’s melted?
Try an extra 1 1/2-2 cups almond flour (general rule of thumb is 4 times as much nut flour for coconut flour). I measure after melted because it’s easier, but it shouldn’t make a difference.
if i use more almond flour instead of coconut flour, can i decrease the number of eggs? i also have this question about the banana broccoli muffins… would i use at least 3/4cup more almond flour instead of the coconut flour in that recipe and could i reduce the number of eggs?
or…. could i use arrowroot or tapioca flour instead of the coconut flour? does the number of eggs get affected by that substitution?
You’d have to play with it. Coconut flour will usually replaces 4 times the volume of almond flour or other starch (I would add more flour over decreasing eggs). So, in this recipe, you would be using 3 1/2 cups almond flour as a starting place (or sub part of that with arrowroot powder). I like the texture that the combination gives, plus the lower volume doesn’t wash out the flavor, which is why I have used it in so many muffin recipes.
thank you so much! i just got my almond flour in the mail, so I can’t wait to make both muffin recipes.
thanks for all you do!
i love your site and podcast! I have learned so much from both
Can I substitute the eggs ?
http://www.thepaleomom.com/2012/11/the-science-and-art-of-paleofying-part-2-binders.html
I do not tolerate walnuts can I sub another nut like pecans?
Sure!