Chocolate Zucchini Muffins - Gluten & Nut-Free, Vegan

This is the time of year that everyone has bundles of veggies bursting out of their homegrown gardens. Everyone is looking for all sorts of things to do with the excess - breads, jams, ice cream. Not us! I have the brownest thumb around. Every year, for 4 years now, I have tried to grow tomatoes. I’ve tried the front of the house with morning sun, the back of the house with the scorching afternoon sun, and nothing works. I start out with the most beautiful tomato plant. It flourishes for the first several weeks. It grows up the cage and gets so many little flowers, and each year I’m convinced that this will be the year that I can grow tomatoes. And each year one tomato grows and then the rest of the plant slowly turns brown, and within a few weeks completely dies. My husband wonders why I even waste money on buying the tomato plant each year and why he has to find storage space in our garage for the tomato plant pot until the following year when I try again.

You better believe that if I can’t even get a tomato plant figured out, I definitely haven’t tried my hand at zucchini. But, for all of you who have zucchini overflowing in your gardens and kitchens, this recipe is for you! And for those of you who can’t grow a single thing like me, don’t worry, the grocery stores have us covered!

I’m actually the only one who will eat zucchini in my house so I was a little hesitant to make a zucchini muffin, so naturally, I turned to chocolate because that almost always solves my problems. Both of my boys asked to try the zucchini while I was shredding it for the muffins and both of them spit it out almost immediately, so I was shocked when the older one asked to try one of the muffins when they were done baking. He gobbled it up. These muffins taste nothing like zucchini - they are so moist and have a rich chocolate flavor.

No one would ever know that these are allergy-friendly! The recipe uses coconut sugar, but it can easily be swapped out for brown sugar or cane sugar to keep them top 8 free.

Grab that zucchini and get baking! And if you have a surplus, double or triple the batch and build-up your freezer stock for an easy breakfast or snack on a busy day!

Prep Time: 20 minutes Cook Time: 25 minutes Yields: 9 muffins

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup (about 1 medium) shredded zucchini (do not drain water out of zucchini)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup softened dairy-free butter

1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 Tbsp water)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup coconut sugar (can sub brown sugar or granulated sugar)

1 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cocoa powder

1 cup gluten-free flour (I use King Arthur)

1/4 dairy-free cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place muffin liners in muffin pan and lightly coat with non-stick spray.

1. Make flax egg in medium mixing bowl. Add vegetable oil, dairy-free butter, vanilla extract, coconut sugar, lemon juice, and shredded zucchini. Whisk well to combine.

2. Add baking soda, cocoa powder, and gluten-free flour to bowl and whisk again to combine thoroughly. Add chocolate chips and stir together.

3. Scoop batter into muffin liners and fill to just below the top.

4. Bake for 25-27 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

5. Let cool in pan for 5 minutes and then remove muffins to cooling rack to cool completely before storing/freezing or enjoy while warm!