Zucchini basil muffins

zucchini_basil_muffin

With only one arm in action, regular bread making that involves kneading and such is still out of the question. But I wanted to make some sort of fresh baked stuff today, and that lead to these delicious and very pretty green-and-yellow muffins. The only sort of hard part is grating the zucchini and the cheese, but the food processor takes care of that. They contain grated zucchini, which give the muffins a very nice moist texture, and the basil and cheese plus the olive oil give it a sort of sunny Italian flavor. They're perfect as an afternoon snack, though they'd make a nice not-sweet breakfast too.

The original recipe is from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads, one of the recommended books in my sidebar. The only change I made was to use extra virgin olive oil instead of the generic "cooking oil" used.

Zucchini basil muffins

  • 2 large eggs
  • 3/4 cup whole milk
  • 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 1/2 cups white flour
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp. salt
  • 1 Tbs. baking powder
  • 2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 medium zucchini)
  • 2 Tbs finely julienned fresh basil leaves
  • 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Grana Padano (or similar hard grating) cheese

Preheat the oven to 200°C/425°F. Make ready the muffin tins, by buttering them if they are not non-stick (here I used one regular-size 12-muffin tin, and 2 mini-muffin tins. The recipe makes about 24 regular size muffins, or 48 mini muffins.)

Combine the eggs, milk and oil in a large bowl. Combine the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in another bowl and add to the liquid mixture in batches, stirring to blend. Don't overblend!

Add the zucchini and basil and stir to blend.

Fill each muffin cup about 1/2 full. Sprinkle the top with the cheese. Bake for about 20-25 minutes for regular size muffins, 15-20 minutes for the mini muffins, until the tops are golden brown and puffy.

Serve while still warm.

You can freeze these and pop them in a toaster oven for a few minutes for a great snack..though to be honest, they rarely survive to make it to the freezer.

Try the Low-carb, gluten-free zucchini basil muffin recipe too!

Submitted by maki on 2004-07-04 20:13.
Filed under:  bread baking quickbread muffins

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Comments

Reid

5 July, 2004 - 05:04

Maki,

Welcome back! These look delicious. I imagine they would go great with some tea after dinner... =)

ladygoat

6 July, 2004 - 05:34

They do look delicious! Muffins are great to make, they're so easy and yet so good. I used to get these zucchini muffins with walnuts in them that were outstanding as well.

athena

6 July, 2004 - 19:14

thanks for posting this! i've been looking for a savory muffin recipe. i'm going to the supermarket today! :-)

yoko

7 July, 2004 - 17:43

Good to see you back!

I've been on a fresh basil kick lately (I made pesto and a caprese salad), so this recipe is very timely. Thanks!

Meg

15 July, 2004 - 22:55

I made these today, Maki, adding in some pine nuts and substituting a half cup of spelt flour for the same amount of white. They were fantastic! Thanks for the recipe.

Jackie

20 September, 2005 - 02:00

I made these for my daughter's preschool class this morning. The teacher said the kids seemed to enjoy them and I thought they were very good, too.

cLOGm

11 July, 2004 - 12:59

TrackBack from cLOGm:
ich weiss nicht mehr, wielange ich schon von einer muffin backform geträumt habe? letzthin hab ich dann endlich eine bekommen *g*! und heute hab ich mich das erste mal getraut, auch wirklich ein rezept auszuprobieren: mango-mohn muffins. schade, dass ihr

cLOGm

11 July, 2004 - 13:05

TrackBack from cLOGm:
ich weiss nicht mehr, wielange ich schon von einer muffin backform geträumt habe? letzthin hab ich dann endlich eine bekommen *g*! und heute hab ich mich das erste mal getraut, auch wirklich ein rezept auszuprobieren: mango-mohn muffins. schade, dass ihr

cLOGm

11 July, 2004 - 13:06

TrackBack from cLOGm:
ich weiss nicht mehr, wielange ich schon von einer muffin backform geträumt habe? letzthin hab ich dann endlich eine bekommen *g*! und heute hab ich mich das erste mal getraut, auch wirklich ein rezept auszuprobieren: mango-mohn muffins. schade, dass ihr

The Ballad of Yoko

15 September, 2005 - 16:47

TrackBack from The Ballad of Yoko:
So good: Zucchini basil muffins. Recipe here. I like Maki's picture of her mini-muffins on her post. I made monster muffins that looked scary when I photographed them, so no picture of mine here. Very tasty-- moist and savory, lots

xtina

3 March, 2010 - 09:28

absolutely amazing!

anon.

22 August, 2010 - 00:39

I was only able to get 22 (smallish) muffins from the batter- and I wish I would have just made 18 regular sized ones...but other than that, they came out great!

Diane

5 January, 2011 - 22:46

Do you think that cheddar cheese would be a fine cheese to use in this recipe, or would the taste be too sharp?

jen

17 February, 2011 - 03:39

I've made these successfully using silken tofu instead of egg in equal measurements. Lovely and moist vegan muffin!

jen

30 April, 2011 - 23:05

Made these vegan again with silken tofu and soy milk, and used walnuts and garlic chives in place of basil.
Such a versatile excellent recipe!

Shann

1 August, 2011 - 17:00

I love these! I have repeatedly shown my friend that bakes that I can be bribed into cat sitting & such tasks with these, and finally got her to cough up the recipe. Now the power of bribe-muffins is mine!

anon.

26 August, 2011 - 16:30

AMAZING!!! the batter make exactly 48 mini muffins and when the first 12 came out of the oven they were devoured upon cooling by my 19 mo old and 4 yr old! i think i had 1 from that batch... not to mention that there were only 8 left the next morning. and gone by the afternoon... wow. 48 muffins, disappeared! my very own magic trick! ;D

Dawn

10 September, 2011 - 06:17

If you are making this vegan, what do you substitute for the Parmesan cheese? Is Tofu generally a good substitute for eggs?

Carol Peer

30 September, 2011 - 02:39

I only use spelt flour in my kitchen and they added a slight nutty taste to them which was wonderful. Nutty and basil go well together. Finding another use for my muffin pans is also great. I usually make dessert muffins but savory ones are also excellent.