We went grocery shopping last week with the intention of making zoodles at some point. We have yet to make said zoodles, and the zucchini we got is heading toward inedible but not there yet! Because of this, we decided to make zucchini muffins at midnight!

Knowing that we run a blog focused on healthy living, I looked for a relatively healthy recipe. I happened upon a flourless one, even though I hadn't searched for gluten-free or flourless, and it comes courtesy of Running with Spoons. Because Jon is trying to reduce his gluten intake in an effort to get his gut in check (a gut check! har har), I thought the flourless muffins were the best choice.

The Smirnoff is actually homemade vanilla. I'm just waiting for some unsuspecting guest to do shots with it. I also just realized how much Wegmans-brand stuff we have.

You might notice in the ingredients picture that we have a few things in there that are not on the recipe card. As per usual, we tweaked the recipe to our liking. We were running low on almond butter, and Amanda at Running with Spoons mentioned that peanut butter could also work. It just so happened that we had three tablespoons of each! I also really like maple-y things, so I did three tablespoons of honey and three of syrup.

Don't skimp out on the syrup! Invest in some quality, local liquid gold.

Once you've got your mise en place, these muffins come together really quickly. You put the dry ingredients in a food processor (we use our Ninja) to create the "flour," then you pop the wet ingredients—except the bananas and zucchini—in with the dry. Process until everything's incorporated and nice and sticky.

The honey had crystalized a bit, so Jon used his big, strong muscles to get what we needed. WERK.

After mashing the bananas with a fork and shredding the zucchini with a cheese grater, empty the contents of the food processor into a large bowl and fold in the bananas and zucchini. We were surprised that it took only one small zucchini to get more than a cup of shredded bits. We were hoping to use up more of our stash, but oh well! Maybe we'll actually get around to making zoodles tomorrow.

    Once all the ingredients are incorporated, ADD CHOCOLATE. We had these melting wafers in the pantry, and zucchini bread/muffins are always better with chocolate chips, so I decided to use up the handful that was left.

No regrets. Zero.

Then you can scoop the batter into the muffin tin. We had a bit of batter left over, so I spooned the rest of it into a mini loaf pan. Exactly as the original recipe stated, these babies took 20 minutes to bake. The mini loaf took about 24 minutes to bake.

Once the muffins cooled, we dove in. They smelled amazing, and the inside was baked all the way through and stayed moist (not that I was worried about these being dry, since I skipped the part about wringing out the zucchini). I think the chocolate added just the right sweetness—listen, I have a sweet tooth, we know. And because it's a dark chocolate, I think it counters the super sweet of the bananas.

 

Jon seemed to really like them! And Ra obviously wanted to try them (Swiper, no swiping!). But she had already gotten the remnants of the peanut butter jar, so she already had her dessert.

Flourless Zucchini Banana Muffins
Yields 12
A flourless treat to use up those zucchini and bananas lying around your kitchen!
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
35 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
20 min
Total Time
35 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 1/2 c. rolled oats
  2. 2 tbsp. ground flaxseed
  3. 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  4. 2 tsp. baking powder
  5. 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  6. 1/4 tsp. salt
  7. 2 large eggs
  8. 6 tbsp. almond butter
  9. 6 tbsp. honey
  10. 2 tsp. vanilla extract
  11. 2 medium-size ripe bananas, mashed (200 g or 1 c.)
  12. 1 c. shredded zucchini, squeezed out excess liquid*
  13. Handful of chocolate chips, if desired
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350, and line cupcake tin with papers.
  2. Add oats, flaxseed, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt to food processor and pulse.
  3. Add all remaining ingredients except zucchini and bananas to food processor and pulse until smooth.
  4. In a separate, large bowl, fold in zucchini and banana. Add in chocolate chips, if desired.
  5. Spoon batter into muffin tins until they're about 3/4 full.
  6. Bake for 20 minutes (or until a toothpick inserted in the muffins comes out clean).
  7. Let cool in the muffin tin on a wire rack and enjoy!
Notes
  1. *Amanda at Running with Spoons suggests grabbing a handful of the shredded zucchini, putting it between two paper towels, and squeezing out the extra liquid to avoid the muffins being soggy.
Adapted from Running with Spoons
Adapted from Running with Spoons
Bog Manners https://bogmanners.com/