You know, anytime you see “lemon-blueberry,” it’s going to be good. But in this case, you read the next word—zucchini—and … pause. And then you remember all the fabulous zucchini chocolate cake, zucchini cupcakes, etc., and you’re more than willing to give this one a shot.
Lemon Blueberry Zucchini Muffins
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup shredded yellow zucchini*
1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners.
In a medium bowl, combine eggs and oil. Hand squeeze the shredded zucchini to remove excess liquid. Stir squeezed zucchini into the bowl. Stir in 1 cup sugar, lemon extract, and lemon juice. Add the flour on top of the mixture, but do not stir it in yet. Add the baking powder and salt to the flour and gently stir into the flour on top. Stir the blueberries into the flour mixture first to coat them, and then stir the dry and wet ingredients together just until combined.
Spoon batter into cupcake liners. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar evenly over the tops of the muffins. Bake for 23-25 minutes, or just until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. The muffins should be a little golden around the edges. Let cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes.
Yield: about 15 muffins.
*For best results/appearance, it’s important to use yellow zucchini or peeled green zucchini. The green flecks don’t look appetizing, and any yellow flecks look like lemon peel, always a good quality in a muffin.
Family reviews: I was a bit disappointed that they weren’t sweeter, and then I asked myself: Do they really need to be sweeter? Do I need excess sugar? And of course, they don’t need to be sweeter and I definitely don’t need the excess sugar. These were a little dense, and didn’t rise much in the oven, but I suspect my baking powder has lost some of its punch. And still, I ate three that morning.
Aaron was super excited to see these on the counter when he got up, so they passed both the sniff and the appearance tests. I left him four muffins. He ate three while I was gone. I was excited to see the fourth still on the counter when I returned, and then before I could get to it, it disappeared. ☹
I dropped 10 muffins off for King of the Picky Eaters and his family. Their overall assessment mirrored mine: On the first bite they also anticipated something sweeter, but then decided they didn’t need the excess sugar, either. And they also thought they were a little dense (again, I think my baking powder was less active), but that didn’t stop them from snarfing them all down. Everyone was shocked to find that they contained yellow squash.
It's another winning recipe for us.
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