My sister brought my Mom a 4 pound Zucchini from her garden 20 years ago. My mom made zucchini soup, stir fry and the best zucchini bread ever from that beast.

I used that recipe years ago first converting it to muffins. Then in efforts to make it healthier I switched from butter to canola oil, got rid of the granulated sugar and packed in more zucchini. I’ve probably made 20 different variations of the original altering it ever so much each time to get a perfect balance of flavors and as much nutritional benefits as possible. I added nuts, golden raisins, lemon zest and candied ginger.

Alexander made his contributions to this final version as well. He prefers pecans to walnuts. He also knows how to zest the lemon properly

and only get the yellow outside not the bitter white underneath.

Added perk, we are at Grandma’s and got to christen her new cupcake tins.

Enjoy!
Avec Amour, Victoria and Alexander

 

Zucchini Candied Ginger Pecan Muffins

Yield – 16 Muffins

1/2 Cup Pecan Pieces

1/2 Cup Golden Raisins

3/4 Cup Canola Oil

1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar, packed

1 1/2 teaspoons Candied Ginger, finely minced

 1/2 teaspoon Lemon Zest, packed about 1 lemon

1 Egg, large

2 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

3 Cups Zucchini, shredded tightly packed

1. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees, rehydrate golden raisins by putting them in a microwaveable container covering with water and microwave on high for 2 minutes, drain and blot dry on paper towels,

spread pecans on a baking sheet and toast for 7 minutes exactly in 300 degree oven, let cool.

Turn oven up to 375 degrees.

2. In a mixing bowl combine oil, sugar, candied ginger

and zest. Add egg

 

and mix until homogenous.

In a seperate mixing bowl stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add flour mixture to wet ingredients, before flour is fully incorporated

stir in zucchini,

add raisins,

add nuts

and stir until just combined. Do not over mix as you will develop the gluten in the flour and your muffins will turn out rubbery.

3.  Line muffin tins with muffin paper, scoop muffin batter into papers to top of paper,

bake for 21 -23 minutes until a paring knife put into the center of the muffin comes out clean, cool muffins on a rack, store in an air tight container in refrigerator up to 4 days. It’s better to freeze batter and bake freshly if you want to save some for later.