Whole wheat muffins made with shredded zucchini and pureéd pumpkin, sweetened with mashed bananas, applesauce, and minimal sugar. Suitable for toddlers, children, kids, big kids, and adults!
1 and ½cupsshredded zucchiniapproximately 1 medium zucchini
1cup(170g) semi-sweet chocolate chipsoptional3
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375ºF (191ºC). Line the wells of two 12-count muffin pans with cupcake liners4, or spray with nonstick spray. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a medium size bowl, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, eggs, pumpkin, yogurt, applesauce, and bananas. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir gently until just combined. Fold in the shredded zucchini and chocolate chips (if using) until everything is incorporated.
Spoon the batter into the wells, filling them about ⅔ of the way full. Bake muffins for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Store muffins in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 or 3 days. Since the muffins are so moist, we like to keep them in the refrigerator, where they will last about a week. Muffins can be frozen, up to 3 months. Thaw in refrigerator or in the microwave as needed.
Notes
Whole wheat flour: you can use all-purpose flour or a mixture of all-purpose and whole wheat.
Quick oats: do not use old-fashioned oats in this recipe. If you don't have quick oats, pulse 1 cup of old-fashioned oats in a food processor a few times until it is a fine texture.
Chocolate chips: I like to fill 12 muffin wells and then add ½ cup of chocolate chips to the other half of the batter.
Liners: these work better not in liners (as in just in the naked wells), so if you want to use liners, spray the liners with non-stick spray.
To make mini muffins: this recipe will also make about 3 and ½ dozen mini muffins. If you'd like to use chocolate chips, I suggest using mini chocolate chips and reducing the amount to ¾ cup. Bake mini muffins about 9-10 minutes.
All nutritional values are approximate and provided to the reader as a courtesy. Changing ingredients and/or quantities will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.