Zucchini Muffins

I had some zucchini to use up, so I thought I'd give this recipe a try. I'm posting it as I found it, including the original author's notes. I'll post my changes at the end. The chitlin scarfed the mini-muffins I made out of it. Oh, and I was trying out my new mini-bundt pan. The cups hold a smidge less than a regular muffin tin cup, so I ended up making a full 12 mini-cupcake sized ones, as well. If you follow my alterations, and make it gluten free as well as egg free, beware: they are NOT good right out of the oven. I had one still warm, and thought I had screwed up massively. It was still very batter-y inside, even though the outside was nicely done. After they had completely cooled, it sort of set up inside. They are still not firmly dry through, but it came down to a merely nicely moist finish. They taste a lot like my mom's raw apple cake recipe, which is delicious (and may be explained by the fact that I used some applesauce to top off the zucchini).
-makes 14 to 16 muffins
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sifted cake flour (I used all-purpose flour and did not sift)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts
2 large eggs
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup safflower or canola oil
2 cups (firmly packed) grated zucchini—use largest holes on box grater
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, spices and walnuts. Whisk well to blend.

3. In a mixing bowl beat the eggs, sugar and oil for 2 to 3 minutes or until very smooth. Add the zucchini and beat just until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and optional raisins and beat until completely moistened.

4. Scrape the batter into greased and floured (or paper cup-lined) muffin tins, filling each cup 3/4 full. Bake 20-25 minutes, until cake tester inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack for 5 minutes. Unmold onto the rack. Cool completely and wrap airtight.

author's note: used 1/3 c sunflower seeds and 1/3 c rolled oats instead of walnuts, and loved the results.


GK's notes: I used bob's red mill ap gluten free flour, along with 1/4 tsp xanthan gum, and ener-g egg replacer (I use heaping tsps of the powder when I mix mine). I added 2 tsp of baking powder to go with the egg replacer, because it seems to me that no egg replacer gets the rising power of eggs. I also thought it was silly the recipe calls for baking soda, and doesn't have any acid to go with it, so I added a tsp of apple cider vinegar. They rose better than any muffins I've ever made gluten, egg and dairy free, so I think this was a good thing. =) In fact, I think these were the best muffins I've ever made with those restrictions. I didn't have enough zucchini, so there was about 1/4 cup applesauce. I couldn't find my shredder, so I pureed the zucchini, and drained the crap out of the zucchini and the applesauce. I have noticed that gf and egg free muffins tend to be very, very moist, so I knew they couldn't handle any extra moisture. I replaced the walnuts with coarsely chopped sunflower seeds (chopped by the chitlin) and we didn't have any raisins. And of course, since they are gluten and egg free, they can't be wrapped air-tight or they'll turn into a bowl of mush. They are loosely wrapped and in the fridge.