No Added Sugar! – Vegetarian Cooking For Carnivores BLOG

They say necessity is the mother of invention. With my bounty of zucchini from 2 plants, I needed to come up with ideas to use these growing beauties (one can eat only so much stir-fried zucchini!). I thought it would be nice to make something that could be made in bulk and frozen for future use. (I AM the self-proclaimed Queen Of Freeze, after all!)

Putting on my thinking cap, I decided to make a zucchini muffin that was tasty but with no added sugar or egg yolks. It took MANY tries until I finally came up with my Zucchini-Date-Apricot Muffin recipe. For the record, in my early trials, I added a mixture of brans and wheat germ to the dry ingredients. While these may have made the muffins healthier, they yielded a cardboard texture. NOT an enticement for adults, let alone children. I eventually whittled these add-ins down to zero – if no one eats them, what’s the point.

NOTE: Again as self-proclaimed Queen Of Freeze, I discovered you can successfully freeze shredded zucchini for these muffins. I’ve only tried freezing the shreds AFTER lightly squeezing out some of the water. I’m not sure if it would be successful simply freezing the shreds prior to squeezing and then squeezing after thawing. Freeze in portion sizes and make sure you mark how much is in the container.

ZUCCHINI-DATE -APRICOT MUFFINS – (Makes 6-9 muffins, depending on size.)

IMPORTANT NOTE: ALL INGREDIENTS SHOULD BE AT ROOM TEMPERATURE!!!!

Wet ingredients

• 115g (about 19) pitted dried dates
• 32g (5 dried) apricots
• 2 egg whites, room temperature
• 68g (1/4 cup) honey
• 16g (2 T) olive oil
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 300g (2 cups) zucchini, shredded

Dry Ingredients

• 102g (1/2 + 1/3 cups total) all-purpose (plain) flour
• 29g (1/4 cup) whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cardamom
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda

PREHEAT OVEN TO 375°F (190°C)

You’ll need 2 bowls: a small cereal sized for the dry ingredients, and a medium mixing bowl for the wet.

Into the medium sized bowl, put the egg whites and beat with a fork to break them up and they become foamy.

Chop the dates and apricots into small pieces. Add them to the bowl with the egg whites.

Shred, then chop the zucchini. (I chop the shreds so the muffins don’t have long zucchini strings.)

Into a clean tea towel, place tennis ball sized bundles of the shredded-chopped zucchini, one at a time. Wrap the tea towel around the bundles and twist over a container to extrude the liquid. You don’t need to squeeze out every drop of liquid – just a firm twist. NOTE: If you want to be very precise, you will probably squeeze out about a total of 40g (3+ tablespoons). Discard this liquid. Place squeezed zucchini into the bowl with the egg whites.

Add in the honey, olive oil, and vanilla.

Into the smaller bowl, stir together the all-purpose (plain) flour, whole wheat flour, salt, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, baking powder, and baking soda.

Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and gently blend until the flour is just incorporated. Don’t over mix or you will produce a tougher muffin.

Into a very lightly oiled muffin tin, fill the cups. (If you have an ice cream scoop, use that – it makes the task much easier.)

The batter will make 6- 9 muffins, depending on size. I find making 9 produces shorter muffins which is more manageable for young children’s hands and mouths, or if you just want a small snack.

Bake in preheated 375°F (190°) for 18-21 minutes – until lightly browned and top springs back when pressed. Let set in tin for 15 minutes. Then run a rounded-tip knife around the sides, Go around again, gently lifting up the bottoms until muffin is freed. Remove to wire rack to completely cool.