Muffintalk is when you get together with foodie friends and your conversation is all about food, its flavors, types, ingredients, you name it, much to the boredom of someone who gravitates to conversation over sports, or motorcycles, or the book they are reading or what happened last week on Survivor. This blog is mostly about vegetarian cookery and recipes using your CSA veggies, but every once in a year I feel the need to post a muffin recipe. After all, a blog named muffintalk should include some literal muffin talk, especially when vegetables are one of the ingredients.
The actor Jim Davis who played Jock Ewing on Dallas was once quoted, “Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread and pumpkin pie.” That’s Mr. Davis’ idea, not mine, though you can find recipes for all three in my cookbook, Chocolate Snowball. These muffins appear in Chocolate Snowball as Chocolate Zucchini Bread. As with most breakfast quick breads, you can bake the batter in muffin tins instead of a loaf pan.
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup canola oil
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
3/4 cup plus 1/4 cup sliced almonds
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper cupcake liners, or coat the tins with melted butter and dust lightly with flour, or spray generously with cooking spray.
With an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Mix in the oil and vanilla extract.
Sift the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the cream cheese mixture, blending well. Mix in the zucchini, 3/4 cup of the almonds and the chocolate morsels. Divide batter among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle with the remaining 1/4 cup of almonds. Bake 25 to 35 minutes, until the tops of the muffins spring back when touched with a finger or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool about 5 minutes, then remove from the tins.
Makes 12 muffins.
[...] Comments « Chocolate Zucchini Muffins [...]
Hi! I recently bought your cook/baking book — thank you for making a high-altitude one! I love zucchini muffins and would like to make some w/o chocolate and am at 6800 ft. Could you recommend a recipe? Also, I desperately need a yellow cake (super moist) recipe and would love to have a red velvet. (obviously a high altitude one). Could you help me? Big thanks!!! sharon@sharonbice.com New Mexico
Hi Sharon,
Thanks for your comments and questions. For zucchini muffins without chocolate, why don’t you try substituting zucchini for both the grated carrots and apples in the Sunshine Muffins from Chocolate Snowball. Use a different nut or keep the sunflower seeds and be sure to make the high altitude adjustments of reducing the sugar and baking soda.
Can your yellow cake have almond paste in it? Try the cake I use for Stein’s Favorite Marzipan cke in Chocolate Snowball. If you don’t want that almond flavor–start with a chiffon cake and make altitude adjustments.
Re: Red Velvet cake for high altitudes: We took a standard velvet recipe and “altituded” it. I like a bit more cocoa, so we doubled that in the recipe. I also know it is unnecessary to have all that food coloring and we cut that amount in half–cake still bleeds red. We also reduced the leavenings and sugar and we are pleased with the recipe we use at Deer Valley.
Have fun experimenting!
Letty
I LOVE your chocolate zucchini bread… one of my favorite recipes in your cookbook… and I’m pretty crazy about you, too. Just catching up on your blog and you have so many new, wonderful sounding (and healthy!) recipes. The only thing better would be if I was perched on your stool in your kitchen, watching you cook. xo
[...] bake up some Chocolate Zucchini muffins from last summer’s post—a variation from the Chocolate Zucchini Bread in my Chocolate [...]