Zucchini Berry Muffins

There’s. So. Much. Zucchini.

When I plant my garden in the spring, I am driven by greed. I planted three “hills” of zucchini seeds, at least 4 seeds in each hill. Of all of those, 2 seeds germinated. I was resigned to having a small amount of zucchini. I was wrong. (I also planted yellow crooked neck squash, which is slightly less prolific.)

So, I’m doing the typical late-summer Midwestern thing of just getting that zucchini into edible things. I had some berries leftover, including some raspberries that I used in a raspberry-added version of this Lemon Layer Cake and some blueberries. I decided to make a muffin-y version of this Blueberry Lemon Zucchini Bread.

I made a few changes to the batter and doubled the streusel topping recipe in this blueberry coffee cake to sprinkle on top. This crumb topping is kind of an all-purpose streusel, sweet, but neutral, and it works with all kinds of muffins and coffee cakes. I made 18 muffins out of the batter, which was originally designed for 2 8-inch loaves, largely because that’s how many cups there are in my collected muffin pans.

My muffins ended up large and puffy with big, domed, crunchy tops. I felt like I was putting a lot of the crumb topping on them, but there was still some leftover, which I froze for a later use. You could make more than 18 muffins, say 22-24. They would be smaller, but still good, and would probably use up all of the streusel recipe.

Like any zucchini quick bread recipe, the shredded vegetable fills more of a moistening and texture-enhancing role than a flavor one. It also provides some pretty green confetti effects, and is a nice neutral background for the fresh berries. I used blueberries and raspberries, but chopped strawberries, blackberries, or whatever else you want to feature in your muffins would be great. You could probably also use other fruits, perhaps even dried fruits.

I hadn’t made muffins of any kind for a while, so these were a deliciously pleasant treat. The berries are the stars here, but the muffin stage is well set by the buttery, zucchini-laced batter. The crunchy crumb topping isn’t necessary, I suppose, but it adds a delightful flourish.

 

Of course, there’s still so much zucchini. Next, I intend to spiralize some and either make a salad like this one, or toss the zoodles with some version of roasted tomatoes, like this one. Okay, honestly, there’s enough zucchini to do both.

Zucchini Berry Muffins with Streusel Topping

Streusel:

2/3 cup flour

2/3 cup sugar

¼ teaspoon fine salt

4 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces

Muffins:

3 ½ cups flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon fine salt

Zest of 1 medium lemon

3 large eggs

1 ½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup (1 stick) melted butter

2/3 cup buttermilk

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon almond extract

Juice of 1 medium lemon

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 ½ cups fresh berries

1. To make the streusel topping, whisk together the 2/3 cup flour, 2/3 cup sugar, and ¼ teaspoon salt. Cut in the cold butter pieces with a pastry blender or with your fingers until the mixture is crumbly and can be squeezed together into clumps. Cover and refrigerate until ready to bake. (This can be made up to a few days ahead.)

2. Preheat oven to 350 F. Generously grease muffin pans or line them with cupcake liners. You will need 18-24 cups.

3. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Whisk together to combine well. Add the lemon zest and whisk in or work in with your fingers to evenly distribute.

4. In a medium-size bowl, combine the eggs and sugar. Whisk together well. Continue whisking until the mixture is pale and smooth. Whisk in the melted butter. Whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla extract, almond extract, and lemon juice.

5. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture. Fold together just until most of the dry ingredients are moistened. Stir in the zucchini. Gently fold in the berries. Try to avoid crushing the delicate ones too much.

6. Portion the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pans. Sprinkle the streusel mixture evenly over each batter portion. If you are making 18 muffins, you may have leftover streusel. (It can be frozen for a later use.)

7. Bake the muffins at 350 F for 20-25 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out with just moist crumbs attached and no liquid batter.

8. Cool the muffins in the pan for about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack until cool enough to eat. Leftovers can be kept covered at room temperature for a few days or frozen in an airtight container or zip-top freezer bag for a month or so.

Makes 18-24 muffins.

Other recipes like this one:Blueberry Lemon Zucchini Bread, Blueberry Banana Quick Bread, Strawberry Basil Muffins, Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins

One year ago: Zucchini Cheddar Risotto