Recipe: Gluten-Free Zucchini Muffins

I love to bake.  No, really…I do.  Just as much as I love to cook.  But baking…baking sort of gives you that extra level of difficulty.  All measurements have to be precise.  Nothing can be off.  Not even one bit.

Want to add another level of difficulty to the mix?  Try converting a recipe to gluten-free!  It’s not always as easy as it sounds.  Sometimes measurements have to change.  Sometimes other ingredients have to be added.

I had a lot of zucchini due to my CSA bin being laden with it this time of year.  I love squash and zucchini.  I love playing around with cooking it different ways.  And growing up, I was always a huge fan of zucchini bread.  No need for that chocolate stuff that gets added to it.  Nope.  The zucchini and the other ingredients can definitely speak for themselves.

So…every Saturday when I am in town, I have been meeting up with a great group of people to go running.  This gets my long run in and I am able to enjoy it with some company…and really focus on the long slow distance (LSD) pace that I am supposed to be practicing.  I’m no good at this running slower thing, but I’m learning.  It’s important to build up stamina and strength.

That being said, a great group was taking me on a 13 mile run last weekend and I wanted to supply some eats for afterwards.  I stumbled across a recipe for Zucchini Muffins in a blog called Eat, Live, Run…so it was maintained by a runner…and it sounded easy and delicious.  Plus…I had every ingredient necessary.  BONUS.  The result?  Everyone who took a muffin LOVED it.  And so…here is my adapted recipe to make it gluten-free and delicious…and, loved by runners and non-runners alike!

Recipe: Gluten-Free Zucchini Muffins

Servings: 16
Time: Prep 15 minutes; Bake 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups all purpose flour (I used Better Batter Gluten-Free All Purpose)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1.5 cups grated zucchini (about two small-medium sized zucchini)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (or, vanilla paste)
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2 tsp baking powder
• Cinnamon and sugar for topping

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, brown sugar, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the grated zucchini, eggs, vanilla and oil.  Stir well to combine and then gently stir into the flour mixture.  Be careful not to overwork this—it will lead to dense muffins!

Fill lined muffin tins about 3/4th of the way up with the batter and then sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on each.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden.

~*~*~

These were so moist and delicious.  I did feel, however, that the nutmeg almost overpowered the rest of the muffin, so I think next time I’ll do maybe 1/8 tsp nutmeg.  Aside from that, these were fantastic.  And they keep well too.  My roommate and I polished these off this morning after hitting up the gym and they were still as moist and delicious as they were the night I baked them.  I received a lot of praise and compliments from my running group on these muffins, so I would say they were a definite hit.

The recipe is super easy…and super delicious.  Each muffin has only 136 calories in it