Guest Cook: Yumi Makes Muffins

I’ve always liked baking, but don’t have much time to do it these days because I’m either very busy with other activities or my husband has taken over the kitchen for the afternoon or evening.

Well, he was working on a day I recently had off, so I thought I’d take the time to try some muffin recipes that I’d found and saved sometime back.

Each batch turned out good, but I’m not 100% sure I’d make either again. They’re definitely worth the effort though. I guess I like a sweeter muffin with more fruit in it.

I’ll start with the Zucchini-Lemon muffins (the original recipe is here).

This recipe makes 12 muffins:

• 2 cups flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg–I added a little more
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• ¾ cup milk–any fat content is ok
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• Cooking spray

Turn on your oven to 400 degrees.

First, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, lemon rind, salt and nutmeg in a medium-size bowl. Make a deep indentation in the middle.

In a different bowl, mix the zucchini, egg, oil and milk, making sure they are well combined. Add this mixture to the flour bowl and mix until the powdered ingredients are just moistened.

Get your muffin pan (12 muffins) and lightly spray the cups with cooking spray (you could oil them, too). Divide the batter among the 12 cups and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes—the muffins should be golden brown when done. To double-check doneness, use the toothpick method. A toothpick that comes out clean after inserting into the middle of the muffin means they’re done.

Cool the muffins on a rack before serving.

Here’s the recipe for squash and pumpkin-seed muffins. These are from a good cookbook called Power Snacks, from Parragon Books. No author is listed.

I made some changes from the original recipe, which is given below.

This is also for a batch of 12.

• Olive oil or cooking spray
• 2 cups peeled and seeded butternut squash, diced at ½ inch (I was thinking that sweet potato may also work)
• 1 ½-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup maple sugar
• 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 ¼ cups whole-wheat flour
• ¾ cup fine-ground cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon, ground pumpkin spice (if you don’t have any, you can find recipes for it online—it’s just a combination of common spices)
• 3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds

Turn on your oven to 375 degrees.

Stick-proof your muffin pan with either brushed olive oil or cooking spray

Steam the squash for 15 minutes, until soft. If you don’t have a steamer, just suspend a colander or large sieve over boiling water. Mash the cooked squash, add the ginger, and mix.

Whisk the eggs, syrup and yogurt in a medium bowl. If making again, I would have used a little more maple syrup.

Put the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and pumpkin pie spice in a separate, bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the squash/ginger mixture and stir until just combined.

Divide the batter into the prepared muffin pan and sprinkle the tops with pumpkin seeds.

Bake for 15 minutes in a 375-degree oven until the muffins have risen and become golden brown. Check for doneness with a toothpick, if needed.

Let them completely cool before serving.