Maple walnut muffins (with zucchini)

[sonia]

The zucchini hidden at the back of the raised bed got quite large before I noticed it, so I went looking for recipes. I started from Irresistibly Moist Vegan Gluten Free Zucchini Bread Recipe (GF) by Demeter at Beaming Baker, and made many substitutions (see Notes for commentary). Turned out great! They taste of maple and walnut without being overwhelmingly sweet.

Makes 12 muffins.

Dry ingredients
2 cups gluten free flour (see Notes)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients
3/8 cup (6 Tbsp) neutral tasting oil
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Fold-In Ingredients
1 1/4 cup grated zucchini
3/4 cup chopped walnuts


Time
25 min to prep, 25 min to bake muffins at 325F

Tools
Muffin pan. Optional paper liners. Mine is silicone and releases the muffins without liners.
Large and medium mixing bowls
Food processor or hand grater
Oven

Methods

• Preheat oven to 325F. Grease your muffin pan and/or add paper liners if needed.
  
• Grate zucchini (no need to squeeze out moisture). Chop walnuts. Set aside.
  
• In medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.
  
• In large bowl, whisk together wet ingredients.
  
• Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Whisk until just incorporated, making sure no flour patches remain.
  
• Thoroughly fold and mash in zucchini and walnuts, until zucchini is very well incorporated (about 30 seconds). The batter will be very, very thick - do not add additional liquids to thin out the batter.
  
• Spoon batter into muffin cups and smooth out the tops.
  
• Bake for 25 minutes. Insert a toothpick to check for doneness - once it comes out clean with just a few moist bits, it’s done.
  
• Allow to cool in the pan, placed on a cooling rack for about 15 minutes. Then remove muffins from pan and place on rack to finish cooling.
  

Serving
Moist and delicious either warm or after they cool.

Storage
Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days in the refrigerator, or in a cool, dark environment. Best the first 3 days.

Notes
The recipe calls for oat flour, so no gums required. I used 1/4 cup tapioca starch, heaping 1/4 cup of sorghum flour, and scant 1 1/2 cups brown rice flour to make a total of 2 cups.

The recipe calls for coconut oil and coconut sugar. I used a combination of olive oil (tail end of the bottle) and sunflower oil, and brown sugar.

The recipe calls for 1 1/2 flax eggs. I put in two smallish chicken eggs, which worked fine.

Variations
Reading through the recipe's comments, I just saw that the author made a similar zucchini muffin recipe which includes almond meal, and a zucchini brownie recipe that I may try soon.

Comments

[nerakrose]

that sounds AMAZING! i love recipes that use 100% or majority oat flour, so I'll definitely try this out.

[sonia]

Let us know how it goes. Looks like that site has a lot of oat flour recipes, so happy exploring!

[nerakrose]

I will! ...eventually. the place I currently live in doesn't have a functioning oven, so there's very little oven-baking/cooking being done. I'm hoarding recipes like a dragon until I can move out and into something better, though!

[sonia]

I love the image of a dragon curled up on a bunch of recipe scrolls... and carefully not breathing fire on them. Best wishes for access to an oven soon!