Banana Zucchini Muffins

Carole is with us today with another great post, this one is from her garden. Great idea for using up the last of the season’s surplus.

I have a small garden but I am not a gardener. You see, I am notorious for garden neglect once I complete the initial planting in the spring. Every year I have such great intentions to tend my garden so carefully but it never happens. This neglect manifests itself best in the monster sized zucchini I harvest, instead of the desired small, sweet and deliciously tender ones I wanted. These massive zucchinis aren’t good for much except to use in baking, so I have been producing all kinds of baked zucchini products over the past few weeks.

These Banana Zucchini Muffins are dense, moist and delicious, but they also use the other food I always seem to have in great abundance: over-ripe bananas! Plus, the use of whole wheat flour, agave and applesauce makes a mommy quite happy on the nutritional end.

I made a quadruple batch of this recipe and froze the extras. My kids will grab one out of the freezer for a quick breakfast, or toss one in a lunch box with a yogurt and apple for an easy lunch. However, most of them were eaten by my 8th grader who packed two every day as a pre-football practice snack.

Even after four batches of these muffins, I had enough zucchini to make double batches of both my Chocolate Zucchini Muffins and Pineapple Zucchini Carrot Muffins. You would think that after 14 dozen muffins, I would be at the end of my zucchini, right? Actually, I also froze four individual bags of shredded zucchini in 2 cup servings for future baking uses. I just couldn’t bring myself to make any more baked goods right now!

Banana Zucchini Muffins

(recipe adapted from Savoring the Thyme)

makes 18 muffins

1 C whole wheat flour

1 C white flour

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2/3 C agave nectar

3/4 C brown sugar

1/4 C melted butter

1/2 C unsweetened applesauce

3 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 C grated zucchini

1 medium very ripe banana, mashed

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line the muffin tins with paper liners. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the first six ingredients. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the remaining ingredients together until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and fold to combine. Do not over mix!

2. Fill the muffin liners so they are filled not quite to the top of the liner. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the center of the muffins spring back when lightly touched. To freeze, wait until they cool completely then individually wrap each muffin in plastic wrap tightly.

Linking with these sites today:

Not Your Ordinary Recipes, Simply Sweet Home, Thirty Handmade Days, Living Well Spending Less, The Pin Junkie, Serenity Now Blog, French Country Cottage, The Frugal Girls, While He Was Napping, Romantic Home, The Answer is Chocolate, Simply Designing, Shaken Together Life, Naptime Crafters, Truly Lovely Blog, Chic on a Shoestring Budget, Shabby Nest