Recipe: Zucchini Spice Bread Muffins

These were amazing... my family LOVED them. We have tons of zucchini... even with squash bugs attacking the plants. I can't imagine how many we'd have if we didn't have squash bugs... and I only have 2 plants!!! Next year, I'm only planting one. HAHA! You can only find so many people to give zucchini to, especially when a lot of your friends have gardens too and are trying to give away their extra zucchinis. Haha! I gave 3 to my mom, and one to my sister, and then one to my neighbor and we will still have plenty here. I love zucchini, but Matthew doesn't care for it that much, though at least he'll eat it. Mary says she loves zucchini, but she'll only eat like one piece...if that. Philip... well he's just not good at eating veggies unless they are pureed... and not pureed by me... he only likes the store bought veggies. sigh... Anyhoo, so I've made grilled zucchini, breaded and pan-fried zucchini (which is SUPER delicious I must say), and of course...zucchini bread. Now, go ahead and laugh, but I never had zucchini bread until last summer. My mother-in-law brought some when they came to visit last year. So, obviously I didn't have a good recipe. I never got the recipe from her. My mom said she had an awesome recipe, but I didn't have it. So, what do you do when you don't have a recipe. You go to allrecipes.com. I love that website. It's where I get most of my base recipes and because I can't leave a recipe alone (generally speaking ;)) I change them up to what I like.
This is exactly how I came up with this recipe. The first time I made it, I followed this recipe for the most part (except subbing applesauce for oil and cutting down the sugar). It was meh. I liked it, but I didn't love it. My kids didn't seem to care that much for it either. So I threw the recipe away, and decided the next time I would use my mom's recipe... but I lost it... or the kids lost it for me, not sure which. HAHA! So, I decided to print out the same recipe again but doctor it up a bit and added some more spices (see the name)... and let me tell you, it came out AMAZING!!!!!! I was really pleased with out it came out so I'm sharing it with you. Oh, and I changed it up and made 1/2 of the batter into muffins (hence the name) and made a loaf with the other 1/2 of the batter. 

I forgot to take a picture of the bread.... but here's a pic of a muffin (which is prettier anyway, hehe!)

 Zucchini Spice Bread Muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cup white flour (I am considering using all whole wheat next time)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil (or applesauce or some combination thereof)
1 1/2-2 cups sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
2 cups zucchini seeded and shredded (I just use a big zucchini- which is usually around 2cups)
1.5 TBSP butter, melted
1 cup chopped pecans (optional- I made the muffins without so Philip could eat them and the bread with. It is really good with pecans...)

Optional topping:
combine 1/4 cup oats, scant 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1-2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1) Grease muffin pans or two 8x4 inch loaf pans. (I prefer to line my loaf pans with parchment paper. This makes the loaves come out really easily!)
2) Preheat oven to 325F
3) Mix together flour, soda, baking powder, salt and spices in a bowl
4) In large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, oil (or applesauce) until well combined
5) Add vanilla extract, lemon juice to above.
6) Mix dry ingredients into the wet until uniform
7) Add zucchini to batter and mix until combined
8) Add melted butter and mix until uniform. Add nuts if using them
9) Pour into prepared pans
10) Add topping if desired
11) Bake for 20 mins for muffins and 50mins-1hr for the loaves (or until knife inserted comes out clean).
12) Cool for 10-20 mins and then remove from pans.... or if you're busy like me, you just take them out of the pan when you remember, or when your kids ask for a snack. hahaha!

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!!! I'm going to be making more of this tomorrow and Thursday because look what I got out of my garden this morning...

Plus, I think there are two more that could be picked... but I just cannot handle seeing 5 zucchinis sitting on my counter... so I'll just let them get bigger for now. Haha!