Mini Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins

I've been on a search for ways to incorporate more veggies into Little One's diet. He is a very independent eater (prefers finger foods that he can have complete control over) but this also means that he's not too big on eating in the veggie department.  We've fallen into a peanut butter on pita sandwich for lunch every day the past 2 weeks.  I know he's tired of eating it because I'm tired of making it!!  I finally just bought some zucchini when I was at the grocery store last week.  I knew I could find some recipes for some zucchini muffins... and this one didn't disappoint!

Yum!

Grab a hot cup of tea or a tall glass of milk - you'll want to have something on hand when you enjoy these tasty treats!

Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins - from this recipe

(makes 3 dozen 1-oz mini muffins - this is the truth!)

2 large eggs

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup grated zucchini (1 medium-large zucchini)

2 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt (I omitted)

3 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg (I omitted)

1/8 tsp cloves (I omitted)

Directions: 

 1.  Gather ingredients.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Grease muffin pans or line with muffin liners. 

 2.  Whisk 2 eggs with the white sugar, the brown sugar, and oil.  Beat until all four ingredients are well incorporated and the mixture is very smooth.

 3.  Mix in vanilla and zucchini.

 4.  Slowly add flour, whisking until there are no more flour lumps.  I added 1/2 cup of flour at a time.  After added one cup of flour, I changed from a whisk to a spatula because the mixture starts to get thick.

 5.  Add baking powder and spices.  Mix well to combine.

6.  Evenly distribute the muffin mix into pans.  Bake for 8 - 10 minutes.  To check for doneness, insert a toothpick into the center of the muffin.  The muffin is done if the toothpick comes out clean.

7.  Taste test because you just can't wait ;)  If you're like me, I had only one large mini muffin pan.  This is why I decided to use liners so that I could minimize the time between different muffin batches.

A tasty variation:
I made another entire batch of muffin mix because I had shredded two medium-large zucchini and wanted to use it up!  Little One LOVES raisins.  I thought the raisins would work great... and they did!
Replace the 1/2 cup brown sugar with a 1/2 cup raisins
I also used a little less than 2 cups of flour.

At step 5 (see above), I added the raisins and combined until well incorporated.  Bake per instructions.  You could leave the brown sugar in, but I thought that I would omit it since the raisins are sweet themselves.  You really don't miss it in the finished muffins.

 Yum. Yum.

I'm thankful Little One took a decent nap today so I could get two batches done! I froze one whole batch to have for future use and kept one batch out to munch on this week.

The Verdict

They were a hit!  He probably ate 3 or 4 today.  And they served exactly the purpose I wanted: I grabbed one on our way out to the park this evening and he enjoyed snacking on it!  

They are a tad bit dry.  But I'm thinking that it was because I used just whole wheat flour.  Maybe I'm dreaming (a distinct possibility!) but I'm thinking that whole wheat flour does change the consistency of baked goods.  It probably didn't help the fact that I REALLY over baked the first batch because the original site said to bake them for 15 minutes.  I should have gone with my gut - I've never cooked a mini-muffin longer than 8 - 10 minutes.  Maybe 15 minutes would be for a regular sized muffins?  The second batch I made with the raisins, I only cooked for 10 minutes and that helped so much.  Next time, I'll probably start experimenting with time between the 8 to 10 minute mark.  Regardless, these gems are a tasty treat for little fingers and a sneaky way to get Little One to eat his veggies!  I've been scoping out a pumpkin muffin recipe that I want to try next!!

Happy Fall to you and your family :)