Zucchini Nut Muffins... and a new look!

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We bring this holiday week to a close with 12 recipes, 9 of them being new - sticking with the new ones, our favorites this time were the Spice-Brined Turkey with Cider Pan Gravy, Chocolate Cherry Brownie Bites and that Turkey Alfredo Pizza.

With all of the leftovers from Thanksgiving, I felt the urge to get the oven goin' again for a snack... hey, I can't help it! Jeff made a passing comment earlier in the week that is had been awhile since we've made muffins... so I made a mental note and decided to try these Zucchini Nut Muffins today.

Filled with shreds of juicy zucchini, these healthy muffins are decidedly moist with a well-developed flavor thanks to a variety of ingredients. I used our usual combo of all-purpose and whole-wheat pastry flour, but you could use completely all-purpose or switch the pastry flour with white whole-wheat flour if you happen to have it on hand.

For a nutty richness, toasted chopped walnuts are thrown into the mix, along with chewy pieces of dried cherries for a sweet-tart bite. Always bringing an intoxicating aroma, we also added a few shakes from our favorite Vietnamese cinnamon to ratchet up the flavor. Rather than using white granulated sugar, we sweetened these muffins with complex pure maple syrup as part of the wet ingredients. While we did add a bit of canola oil to give the muffins a pleasant texture and mouth feel, we did use a larger amount of applesauce to keep the fat down - this duo also played into their moistness.

Since these muffins didn't have any eggs in them, I found the texture to be a little on the heavier side. The baking powder did do its job, giving them some lift and rise, but they didn't seem to be as light as muffins we normally make.

Even so, the taste made that a moot point for us and we didn't mind. Since we used soy milk in these, I believe the muffins can be considered vegan, but I'm not an expert on that. If you don't have or like soy milk though, don't let that deter you... regular milk would work just fine.

Recipes
Zucchini Nut Muffins