As the zucchini piled up on my countertop last week, I started making zucchini bread, which I enjoyed (as did everyone in my office). After making a couple of loaves I realized quick breads felt like an occasional afternoon indulgence with tea. What I needed was a recipe for a healthy breakfast muffin, and it didn’t take long for me to find it. I headed over to Sharon’s Spiced Carrot Muffins, which are a little bit naughty, but mostly just nice. I swapped carrots for zucchini and subbed in coconut oil for vegetable oil. Because I almost always have Greek yogurt in my fridge, I thinned it with a little milk and used it in place of plain yogurt. I edited the spices too and added some dried coconut to the mix. With only 2/3 cup brown sugar for twelve muffins, I felt downright virtuous eating one of these!
I’ve made several batches now. Dad particularly loves them. He breaks one in half, toasts it up, and adds a little pad of butter to each half. He might drizzle on a little honey if he’s feeling extra indulgent on a Saturday morning. Not a half hour later he’s already asking, “Where’d you put those muffins?” He can’t get enough.
Our cousin (Mom’s niece), Laura, got married last weekend. The day before the wedding her family had a houseful of bridesmaids, cousins, aunts, and uncles–many mouths to feed! We brought over homemade granola and yogurt, fruit salad, and two batches of these muffins. The muffins were the first to go, and we promised to share the recipe.
- 2½ cups white whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 1 cup Greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup milk
- 2 large eggs
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups zucchini, coarsely grated and squeezed of liquid
- 1 cup unsweetened shaved coconut
- Heat the oven to 375 degrees and adjust the rack to the middle position. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with baking cups and spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, spices, and salt.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil, yogurt, milk, and vanilla. Using a spatula, stir in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the zucchini and coconut.
- Divide the batter evenly between muffin cups, filling them to just below the top. Bake until lightly browned and well risen, about 25 minutes.
Hey, what about me? I adore these muffins too! BTW the other change you made was to sub in white whole wheat flour, which you think would make them taste distinctly healthy, but in fact, these muffins taste really superb. Love them in the summer, and come fall I look forward to switching back to carrots!
Delicious! I am on a muffin kick right now, and I think I need to make these 🙂
Thanks for posting the recipe! I’ve been on the lookout for it since you posted a pic of the muffins on your Instagram feed awhile back. Excited to try them out this weekend!
These muffins look delicious and healthy. I love sweet but not too sweet…so much better than a sugar rush. Thanks for sharing!
I need to make these now!
I can testify–these are great.
We Andersons (and Keets and Damelios) love all things coconut, so it’s not a surprise that these were a big hit in our house. I’ve never really warmed to the whole baking with coconut oil thing, but after tasting these…I think I might have to give it a shot!
These were delicious. My store didn’t have unsweetened coconut so I used sweetened. These were the perfect balance of lightly sweet but nothing over the top. I doled out smaller amounts of the batter and still came out with 24 decently sized muffins, with a 20 minute baking time at altitude (6500 ft).
Incredible muffins!