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Chocolate Zucchini Coconut Oil Muffins

Chocolate Zucchini Coconut Oil Muffins

Things are looking a little different around here today, thanks to the talented Erin and Melissa of Wooden Spoons Kitchen.  I am so thankful for them and the opportunity to work with them.  They made me feel like more than just another client- they truly cared, they listened, they took time to get to know me, and they patiently worked to develop a design and site which personally reflects me.  I could not speak more highly of them and their work.  Thank you, Erin and Melissa.

Today I’m celebrating the new site design with these chocolate zucchini muffins.  We are right about at the peak of summer squash season and whenever I have more zucchini than I can handle, I’ve been making these muffins.  I’m not going to tell you how many batches of these I’ve already made, but I will say that we eat these for breakfast, snacks, and dessert.  A combination of whole wheat pastry flour and spelt flour keeps the texture light, they are lightly sweetened with coconut sugar, and the sweet aroma of coconut oil is a nice complement to the chocolate.  Studded throughout are pieces of dark chocolate that become melty and oozy when you enjoy them warm.  Having loads of shredded zucchini in these muffins qualifies them as healthy enough for breakfast, don’t you think?   And adding a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream on top makes it a most delicious dessert.

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Carrot Banana Muffins {with honey cream cheese}

Carrot Banana Muffins {with honey cream cheese} | Gather & Dine

Last week’s spring break at home with the kids unintentionally resulted in a lot more baking and a lot less cooking.  Not quite sure how it ended up that way, but the days passed by quickly and I have no regrets of how we spent our time together.  One of the things my daughter looked forward to most over the break was being able to host a tea party for her grandparents.  According to her, it was to be a tea party featuring her scrambled eggs.  Scrambled eggs are her specialty; she loves to cook them for anyone who will eat them.  She has such a sense of accomplishment after she’s cracked her own eggs, whisked in the milk, sprinkled in the salt and pepper, and scrambled it together on the stove.  Although it may sound simple, to her it is not, and she is proud of being able to do everything on her own.  She couldn’t have been more excited about being able to cook for her grandparents.  It gives me great joy to see her taking initiative in bringing others together, to share good company and delicious food .

Along with Evelyn’s scrambled eggs, we served a bowl of fresh berries and arranged a tiered tray of cardamom vanilla breakfast cookies, mini-jars of soaked muesli with chia jam, and these carrot banana muffins.  I don’t know what else to say about these muffins besides that they are incredible.  They are sweetened almost entirely with dates, only a touch of honey, and made with a spelt and almond flour blend.  They are wonderful for breakfast, as a snack, or even as a healthy dessert.  The texture is fairly dense, but also very soft and moist. The honey cream cheese is a fun surprise in the middle and makes these taste like carrot cake without all of the added sugars.  Carrot cake for breakfast?  Oh yes, I can always be on board with that.

Carrot Banana Muffins {with honey cream cheese} | Gather & Dine Carrot Banana Muffins {with honey cream cheese} | Gather & Dine

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Carrot Banana Muffins {with honey cream cheese}
Serves: makes 16 muffins
 
Ingredients
  • 5 ounces cream cheese
  • 3½ tablespoons honey, divided
  • 1 cup spelt flour
  • 1 cup almond flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 3 large eggs
  • ½ cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
  • 1½ cups mashed banana, (about 3-4 ripe bananas)
  • ½ teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1 cup pitted medjool dates, chopped (about 9-10 dates)
  • 2 medium carrots, grated
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
  1. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the cream cheese and 1½ tablespoons honey until creamy and smooth. (Using a stand or hand mixer here is helpful.) Place in the refrigerator to chill while making the muffin batter.
  2. Preheat oven to 325. Lightly butter a 12-cup muffin tin and 4 cups of an additional muffin tin.
  3. In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and coconut.
  4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, butter, banana, vinegar, and remaining 2 tablespoons of honey. Stir in the dates. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Gently fold in the chopped walnuts.
  5. Place about 1 slightly heaped tablespoon of batter into each muffin cup. Transfer honey cream cheese to a piping bag. Cut the tip off and pipe a small amount of cream cheese in the middle of each muffin cup, dividing evenly among the 16 muffin cups. Divide the rest of the batter among the muffin cups, gently placing on top of the cream cheese.
  6. Bake 27-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling. These taste delicious both at room temperature or chilled. Store remaining leftover muffins in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
Notes
adapted from Andrew Weil's True Food
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Persimmon Cornmeal Muffins

Persimmon Cornmeal Muffins

 If I had to choose one favorite fruit during the winter season, it would be persimmons.  I personally tend to favor the fuyu variety over hachiyas because I prefer a slighter firmer bite to the fruit.  Usually persimmons don’t last long enough around here for me to bake with them, but I recently discovered a sale and came home with enough persimmons to fill our entire fruit bowl.  Adding persimmons to these simple cornmeal muffins was the first idea that came to mind.  As it is when baking and roasting other types of fruit, the sweetness of the persimmons is pleasantly intensified after baking.  These muffins are whole grain, naturally sweetened, and have fragrant citrus undertones.  Baking a batch of these muffins is a bright and cheerful way to begin the day, especially on those cold and gray mornings.

Persimmon Cornmeal Muffins

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Persimmon Cornmeal Muffins
Serves: 12 muffins
 
Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoons white chia seeds
  • ½ cup whole milk
  • ⅓ cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1½ cups spelt flour
  • ½ cup almond meal
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • zest of 1 orange
  • ½ cup freshly squeezed orange juice (from 1-2 oranges)
  • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • ⅓ cup maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups peeled and diced fuyu persimmons (about 3 persimmons)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter or line a 12-cup muffin pan.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the chia seeds and milk. Allow mixture to stand for 10 minutes to thicken.
  3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the cornmeal, spelt flour, almond meal, baking powder, and salt.
  4. Add the orange zest, orange juice, butter, maple syrup, and vanilla to the chia seed mixture and whisk together. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until just combined. Gently fold in persimmons.
  5. Divide muffin batter among prepared muffin cups.
  6. Bake 30-33 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow muffins to cool in the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Notes
adapted from Amy Chaplin's At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen


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