Zucchini Bread Muffins

All my childhood, we had zucchini bread every summer, using up the ever plentiful and overly bountiful zucchini that would spring from the garden.  I love Great Grandma's zucchini bread, even if I tweaked it occasionally over the years.  I have made zucchini cupcakes, but I had never made muffins out of it!  I've always loved using my Great Grandmother's vintage Wonder grater, which makes nice, fine shreds.  It is the small sized hole grater out of the set of three that were sold in the '30s.  I have the small and large but have to use a modern grater if I want the medium sized hole.  I just found out they still make a version of the Wonder shredder/grater as a three set by Jacob Bromwell.  Boy is it expensive!  I like the solid frame of my vintage one better though.  Thanks Grandma!!

Well, yum.  I like these even better than the loaf form!  But hubby doesn't like the mess of the streusel as much and prefers the bread.  The method change of working the oil into the flour gives a beautiful, moist and tender crumb to the muffins as opposed to the more solid results of the original method.

Zucchini Bread Muffins
makes 7 muffins

1 egg (50g)
⅓ cup oil (75g)
3 tbsp light brown muscovado sugar (40g)
¼ cup granulated sugar (50g)
⅔ cup finely grated zucchini (one small garden zucchini) (~110g)
1 tsp vanilla (5ml)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (120g)
⅜ tsp sea salt
¼ tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp baking powder
⅓ cup nuts, chopped (walnuts or pecans), optional 

Streusel topping:

6 tbsp flour (45g)
¼ cup brown sugar, packed (53g)
pinch of salt
2 Tbsp cold butter, in small pieces 
¼ cup finely chopped nuts
½ tsp cinnamon

Combine the streusel ingredients, except for the nuts, in a bowl and rub together with your fingers or a fork until very crumbly with a mixture of fine crumbs and small, even clumps.  Mix in the chopped nuts and set aside. 

Pre-heat oven to 425ºF.  Line a muffin tin with liners, dividing the cups to every other well as possible so that there is a space between the muffins.  Whisk together the flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, and baking powder in a large bowl.  Add the oil and stir into the flour mixture until fully incorporated into a loose paste.  In small bowl or liquid measure, mix together the egg, sugars, vanilla, and zucchini.  Add to the flour mixture and mix just until smooth and no lumps remain.  Gently fold in the chopped nuts.  

Fill muffin cups ⅔ full.  Top generously with the streusel mixture.

Bake for  about 20 minutes or until muffin tops are golden brown on the edges and fully baked through (200-210º internal).  Allow to cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Store loosely covered for a couple days. 

These are good plain or buttered! 

 Here are some more muffins for your Monday:

• Carrot Cake Muffins: A Day in the Life on the Farm 
• Cheddar Beer Muffins: Food Lust People Love
• Funfetti Muffins: Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Zucchini Bread Muffins: A Messy Kitchen
• Zucchini Cornbread Muffins (Small-Batch Recipe): Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice