Gluten-free Blueberry Zucchini Muffins make delicious use of prolific vegetable
Remember when every day wasn't a National Day of Something Or Other? Well, actually, it was — or has been for some time. We just didn't know most of them.
While the same information is readily available online these days, a huge paperback reference that has been printed every year since 1957 called "Chase's Calendar Of Events" has become the bible of our culture's idea of tongue-in-cheek (and quite a few earnest) celebrations. The tome's authors and editors attempt to track down information about the rapidly growing number of days, such as how they started, why, with whom, places to get more information, etc. You can find out more about the book at https://rowman.com/page/chases.
This is a long way of saying that I have a favorite of Chase's more whacko list of days, and it took place just recently. It's called "National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day" and is celebrated every year on Aug. 8. We find ourselves right in the heart of zucchini season and the prolific vegetable is everywhere. Home gardeners are desperate to get rid of it before they're overrun.
Two days before the day in question, my husband came home from his Saturday morning at All Things Coffee in North Kingsville, Ohio, with a couple of huge zucchinis that he got from the shop owner. I rejoiced. Ever since finding out that I can't grow vegetables to save my soul, I'd often found myself having to actually BUY zucchini in August to make my favorite quick bread, pureed soup, and spiralized "pasta" dinners. Here was an excuse to do them all.
I wanted my husband, who indulges in very few treats, to enjoy some of it, too, so I poked around and found a gluten-free recipe for Blueberry Zucchini Muffins that I thought sounded pretty good. And my goodness they were. It's from a blog, "Meaningful Eats," which is worth reading, should it be relevant in your life. Writer Erin Collins shares loads of GF baking tips and is a delightful read.
If GF doesn't trip your trigger, you could make them conventionally with all-purpose wheat flour, but I'll tell you I wouldn't leave these on anybody's porch. I'd sooner eat them all myself.
Gluten-Free Zucchini Blueberry Muffins
1¼ cup gluten-free 1:1 baking flour, 200 grams
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
⅓ cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1¾ cups finely grated zucchini, lightly squeezed, 250 grams (weigh after squeezing)
½ cup frozen blueberries (original recipe called for 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips)
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a standard 12-cup muffin tin with 9-12 paper liners or grease with nonstick cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the gluten-free flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla until smooth and well-combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until just combined.
Lightly squeeze the zucchini to get out some of the excess liquid. Stir in the shredded zucchini and berries. Mix until the batter is just combined and smooth.
Fill muffin cups all the way up. Refrigerate the muffins for 20 minutes before baking.
Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake for 10-15 minutes or until the tops spring back lightly to the touch.
Let the muffins cool in the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 9-12 standard-size muffins
Adapted from meaningfuleats.com
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This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Gluten-free blueberry muffins recipe uses up zucchini in delicious way
