Healthy Gluten Free Zucchini Muffins

[pinit] These days, I’m in heavy-duty stock-the-freezer-for-breakfast mode. During the summertime, I don’t go out of my way to make a hot breakfast most days. Mostly, they eat cereal with almond milk. They’re o-kay with it, but there are definitely some grumbles as they are very food-spoiled. But on school days? You’re not leaving my house without a hearty, stay-with-you-all-morning breakfast and that’s that. The easiest way to make that happen is with something like these healthy gluten free zucchini muffins, made with just 1/2 cup of brown sugar in 24 muffins (that means about 1 teaspoon of sugar in each muffin), healthy coconut oil fat, and whole grain oat flour. Not to mention allll the zucchini (and/or yellow squash) in there. They’re a riff on the Carrot Muffins in Gluten Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread, since, well, I’ve got zucchini coming out of my ears these days and I thought maybe you did, too.

I made mine with raisins, and not too many of them at that, but you could of course replace the raisins with anything from chopped pecans or almonds to chocolate chips.

Fill those muffin cups about 2/3 of the way full, and then pop them in the oven. The batter mixes up very easily—but you do have to squeeze much of the water out of the zucchini or you’ll end up with batter that’s way too wet. It would expand quickly in the oven, and the muffins would sink in the middle as they cooled. Not good.

These healthy muffins are moist, tender, only lightly sweet and still really flavorful. Breakfast is served!

Prep time: 10 minutes       Cook time: 20 minutes       Yield: 24 muffins

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups (about 300 g) grated fresh zucchini and/or yellow squash (I used 1 medium zucchini and 1 medium yellow squash)

1 1/2 cups (210 g) all purpose gluten free flour (I used my Better Than Cup4Cup blend)

3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)

2/3 cup (180 g) certified gluten free oat flour (I just grind up certified gluten free rolled oats into a powder)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1/2 cup (109 g) packed light brown sugar

1 cup (100 g) raisins (can replace with chopped nuts, chocolate chips or another small dried fruit)

1/2 cup (112 g) virgin coconut oil, melted and cooled

4 eggs (240 g, out of shell) at room temperature, beaten

1/2 cup (4 fluid ounces) buttermilk, at room temperature (can replace with 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, soured with 1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar)

Directions

• Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease or line 2 standard 12-cup muffin tins and set them aside.

• Prepare the zucchini/squash. Place the grated zucchini and/or yellow squash in the center of a large clean tea towel or flour sack (a kitchen towel with a flat weave), gather the towel around the zucchini, and twist tightly to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Set the zucchini aside.

• Make the batter. In a large bowl, place the all purpose flour, xanthan gum, oat flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon, and whisk to combine well. Add the brown sugar and whisk again to combine, breaking up any lumps. In a small bowl, place the raisins (or nuts or chips) and add about 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients, toss to combine and set the bowl aside. To the large bowl of dry ingredients, add the grated zucchini and mix to combine, breaking up any clumps in the grated zucchini. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the coconut oil, eggs and buttermilk, mixing to combine after each addition. The batter will be thick but not stiff. Add the raisins and reserved dry ingredients, and mix until they are evenly distributed throughout the batter.

• Bake the muffins. Fill the prepared wells of the muffin tins about 2/3 of the way full with batter. With wet fingers, smooth the tops of the batter in the wells and place them in the center of the preheated oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when pressed gently and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean, or with a few moist crumbs attached. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

• Freeze for later. These muffins freeze very well in a freezer-safe container. Just eliminate as much air as possible from the container before freezing the muffins in a single layer, and defrost on the counter overnight before serving. They can be refreshed in the toaster oven before serving.

• Adapted from the recipe for Carrot Muffins on page 235 of Gluten Free on a Shoestring Bakes Bread.