Zucchini Muffins... fail.

Again, I was browsing recipes online. I have a ton of cookbooks, yet using the internet for recipes is so wonderful. Add in the online hoarding boards, Pinterest, and a girl is sitting on just this side of heaven. The crafts, organization, recipes...I digress. Anywho, since I have already accumulated a hoarders dream worth of recipes on there I decided to start actually making them. This time I saw a recipe for Low Fat Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread. Given the 'fail' status of my previous bread making adventures, I decided to make muffins instead. Also, I'm not sure how chocolate and zucchini would taste together, so I made some changes to the original recipe. If you are interested in trying chocolate and zucchini, you can find the original recipe here.

*** Keep in mind that I wrote ALL of this BEFORE I tasted the final product.

At first I didn't think I had enough zucchini. Turns out 1 medium sized zucchini produces about 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini. SUCCESS! I grated it using a cheese grater. About half way through grating, I discovered that the 'small' grate was too small. Then I switched to the larger side and it produced much better shreds. Depending on how much zucchini crunch/taste you want, you can choose which shred works best for you. Here is the difference.

Recipe: 

From the original recipe I linked above, I omitted the chocolate chips, and added the spices and lemon zest. When I tasted the batter from the original one, it seemed a little bland.

Makes 12 Muffins

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup white whole wheat flour (You can use 2 cups all purpose flour if you don't have wheat.)

1/2 cup unpacked light brown sugar

1 1/8 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp allspice

1 tsp vanilla

1 large egg

2 tbsp butter, softened

1 cup 'no sugar added' apple sauce

1 1/2 cups loose, shredded zucchini

1 tbsp lemon zest

Preheat oven to 325F. 

Combine flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg. Then mix in sugar, vanilla, butter, apple sauce, zucchini, and lemon zest.

Add flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir gently until combined.

Pour mixture into muffin tin. I lined them with foil cupcake liners.

Bake at 325 for about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and enjoy!

Final Product: 

They look delicious; however, they are still pretty bland. Earlier, while I was searching zucchini bread recipes, I wondered why they all had so much sugar. Now I understand. I also understand why there were chocolate chips in the original recipe. After I photographed and tasted these moist, slightly lemon flavored, bland muffins. I topped a few of them with chocolate chips while they were still warm. Also, not good. Especially if you add the lemon. 

Conclusion: While these look amazing, I think they are flavorless for the most part. I will not be making these again and I'll be finding a new place for bread recipes. I'm thinking Taste of Home or Betty Crocker or Martha Stewart.