zucchini carrot muffins.

Yesterday while I had some down time at the office, I decided to browse the internet for a new recipe to try.  Inspired by my friend Steph, who is inspired by nutrition and healthy eating, I decided to search for a zucchini muffin recipe.  She made dinner for me and some of our friends a few weeks ago and for dessert she made vegan style zucchini muffins with her own twist of ingredients.  When I tried a piece it was absolutely delicious.  I inquired about the recipe but never received a response.  I assume she wants to keep the recipe on the low since she's starting to sell them now.  Anyhow, I found an easy recipe and altered it to my own taste.  It's not a vegan muffin so I can't guarantee that mine have any health benefits but they are very tasty and I'll definitely be making them again.

Let's start with the original recipe (found here):

Ingredients:
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 egg
1/4 cup canola oil
1 cup finely shredded unpeeled zucchini
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup dried currants or chopped raisins (I used raisins)

Directions
In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients. Combine the egg and oil; stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. Fold in the zucchini, walnuts and currants.
Coat muffin cups with cooking spray or use paper liners; fill three-fourths full with batter. Bake at 350° for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack. Yield: 6 muffins.


So there you have the basic recipe but here are my additions/substitutions:

recipe requires 3/4 cup all-purpose flour - I used about 1/2 cup of all purpose flour and substituted the rest with whole wheat flour.

recipe requires 1/2 cup sugar - I used about a 1/4 white sugar and added 1/4 light brown sugar

recipe requires 1 cup finely shredded unpeeled zucchini - I used 3/4 cup of shredded zucchini and for the remaining 1/4 I added shredded carrots.

Also when everything was combined together in the mixing bowl, I added a tiny squeeze of honey and threw in a palmful of plain oats.

Let's take a look at the progress :] excuse the kitchen lighting - it gave everything a yellow hue :[

finely shredding zucchini in the food processor

shredded zucchini and carrots

the dry ingredients

(before baking) made total of 11 muffins

finished muffins!

So overall, I was pleased with the result.  To me, the muffins taste like a carrot cake without the sweet cream cheese frosting.  Next time, I 'll use less walnuts since I'm not huge nut fan and perhaps I'll use a full 3/4 cup of whole wheat flour. If you have any other variations or thoughts on this recipe, please feel free to share.