Zucchetti Muffins

I recently saw a marketplace post for some used children’s toys that read:

“Tuusche gerne gege Garteärnte, aber KEI ZUCCHETTI!!!”
I’ll trade you for something from your garden, but NO ZUCCHINI!!!'

Zucchini.

Those giant gourds are looming in Swiss gardens at the moment. Overflowing. Big, ripe, green or yellow, and waiting to be turned into ratatouille, sweet and sour preserves, Wähe or, if you’re lucky, these perfect zucchini muffins.

My mother-in-law has already off-loaded a couple of her yellow behemoths on us, from which I made this muffin recipe four times in the last week and a half.

It’s that good.

The recipe is a standard muffin recipe that I’ve been making since pastry school, and one that can be varied a lot—it works with carrots and applesauce, or even pumpkin puree. I like it becasue it doesn’t try to stuff in an unruly amount of zucchini—just enough to give it that nice earthy flavor and some extra moisture, but not so much that the inside gets gummy.

I make 18 medium muffins with this recipe, which provides just enough for our family, plus some to give to neighbours and friends, but you can fill 12 cups really full for giant muffins, if you prefer.

380 g flour

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 tsp flaxseed, crushed

1 tsp each baking powder, baking soda and salt

200 g oil (peanut, canola or another neutral oil)

200 g brown sugar

2 eggs

350 g zucchini, grated

150 g raisins

Preheat oven to 190 C / 375 F / gas mark 5.

Line 1-2 muffin tins with muffin liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, flaxseed, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and oil, then whisk in the eggs. Using a tea towel or paper towels, pat out some of the water from the zucchini, then add this to the oil/sugar mixture. Add the raisins.

Using a spatula very gently fold the flour mixture into the oil/sugar mixture. Do not overmix or your muffins will be rubbery. Simply turn over the batter until most of the flour has disappeared (some streaks are ok).

Drop the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling about 3/4 of the cup for 18 muffins or right to the top for 12 muffins.

Bake for about 16-18 minutes, or until you can smell the muffins and when you press the top it bounces back fully.

I use this to make 18 medium sized muffins (like the pictures), but you can also make 12 giant ones.
I would normally use British/North American style dark brown sugar in these muffins, but as this is hard to come by in Switzerland, I use Lone Star Kitchen’s Stacy Streuli’s method of mixing regular white sugar with molasses to make brown sugar. For this recipe, simply mix 160 g white sugar and 40 g molasses with a fork until the sugar is moist. You can also use regular white sugar or raw sugar.
The zucchini just requires a gentle pat to get out any excess liquid—no need to strain or do excessive squeezing.
I always plump my raisins before adding them to a recipe, soaking them in booze, tea, or just a bit of hot water. I strain and add them directly to the recipe.