Zucchini Queeny

One of my students brought me a zucchini she had grown. It was HUGE! When the kids saw it, one of them asked, “What does it look like inside?” Now, I couldn’t pass up that invitation to teach, so that week I brought in a grater. I sliced the end off and showed them the inside. Each child had a turn to grate the zucchini.

If it was not the end of the year when everything gets crazy, we would have cooked in class. But it is the end of the year and everything is pretty crazy, so I took the grated zucchini home and baked it into mini-muffins and there was not one left when I served them at school the next day.

Here is the kid-tested recipe for all you zucchini growers and muffin lovers.

Zucchini Muffins

Ingredients

• 3 cups grated fresh zucchini (I pressed the excess water out with my hands)
• 2/3 cup melted  butter (I used half margarine)
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• Pinch salt
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 cup walnuts (optional)

Method

You don't need a mixer for this recipe.

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl combine the sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the grated zucchini and then the melted butter. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the zucchini mixture and mix in. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir these dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture. Stir in walnuts, if using.

2 Coat each muffin cup in your muffin pan with a little butter or vegetable oil spray. Use a spoon to distribute the muffin dough equally among the cups, filling the cups up completely. Bake on the middle rack until muffins are golden brown, and the top of the muffins bounce back when you press on them, about 25 to 30 minutes. Test with a long toothpick or a thin bamboo skewer to make sure the center of the muffins are done. Set on wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Remove muffins from the tin and let cool another 20 minutes (if you can wait that long!).