Lemon Zucchini Muffins with Lemon Glaze

Good Day Blogstalkers and WELCOME to my newest little project!

I've always loved spending time in the kitchen.  Kneading dough soothes me, beating an egg calms me and chopping onions...well that just sucks...I find it helps to first get really angry at the onion and then kill it with a knife while crying at the awfulness of it all.  And say things like "At least his death will not be in vain, he shall make my spaghetti sauce delicious."  And then point the knife at the other onions in the kitchen and say "You're next."

Let's move on shall we?  So yeah, I love to cook.  I love to bake.  I love to write.  (I also love to dance to hip hop music, but that's neither here nor there.)  So I thought, why not start a food blog?  So I did.  And I named it CookBooksy because my second favorite thing to read, after other books, is cookbooks.

So that's my spiel.  Let's get on with the first recipe.

Lemon Zucchini Muffins with Lemon Glaze

**Adapted From A Recipe From AllRecipes.com**

I'm terrible at eating breakfast.  Many days I don't put anything at all in my mouth until two or three in the afternoon.  So in an effort to entice myself to start breaking my fast more regularly I thought I would whip up some tasty muffins.  These turned out more like cupcakes than muffins and I was like...shit.  But THEN I was like, never mind, am brilliant because now I get to eat cupcakes for breakfast.  Plus these are like healthy cupcakes because they have zucchini in them.  And that is a green vegetable.  Let's get to it!

Lemon Zucchini Muffins Cupcakes with Lemon Glaze

INGREDIENTS

1 3/4 c. All Purpose Flour                    1 c. White Sugar *divided*

1 tsp. Baking Powder                           3/4 tsp. Baking Soda

1/2 tsp. Salt                                        1 Medium Zucchini *shredded*

8 oz. Lemon Greek Yogurt                    6 TBS. Butter *melted then cooled til just warm*

1 Egg *beaten*                                     1 TBS. plus 1/3 c. Lemon Juice *divided*

1 TBS. plus 2 tsp. Lemon Zest *divided*

Simple right?  Eleven ingredients. (Using the lemons for both juice and zest)  Oh wait...actually twelve ingredients.  I forgot to mention the secret ingredient, one pinch of grated Lauren.

Ouch.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the over to 400 degrees Farenheit (200 degrees Celsius.)

In a large bowl combine the flour, 3/4 c. sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Make a well in the middle of the bowl.  In another bowl mix shredded zucchini, yogurt, butter, egg, 1 TBS. lemon juice and 1 TBS. lemon zest.  (Note: The original recipe suggests using regular yogurt but with baking I prefer greek yogurt.  For one, it is much less likely to curdle while baking.  Also, it contains less carbohydrates and sodium than regular yogurt and is much higher in protein which means it'll help keep you feeling full for longer.)

Spoon the liquid mixture into the well you've made in the flour mixture and stir slowly, incorporating the flour until only just combined and then STOP.  DO NOT OVERSTIR.  If the batter appears much thicker and lumpier than normal cupcake don't worry, this means you're doing everything right.  Good for you.

Either grease or line a muffin pan with paper cups.  Spoon the batter into the pan, filling the cups almost all the way up as this is a low-rise recipe.  (Note: Contrary to the world of fashion, in baking, low-rise does not mean an impressive muffin-top.)  

You should have enough batter to fill one normal 12-count muffin tin, maybe a little bit more.

   

Place the pan in the preheated oven and bake for about 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of one of the muffins comes out clean.

While the muffins or cupcakes or whatever are baking combine 1/3 c. lemon juice, 2 tsp. lemon zest and 1/4 c. sugar in a small saucepan and heat over medium-high heat stirring frequently until the glaze starts to simmer.  Then stir constantly until all of the sugar is dissolved and the mixture seems to thicken just a bit, about 7-10 minutes.  Then cover and keep warm until the muffins are out of the oven. 

Using a toothpick, poke about 8-10 holes in the top of each muffin and then spoon about a tsp. of glaze onto the top of each.  Let all of the muffins except for one cool for 5-10 minutes in the tin before removing.

Eat the other muffin. (Can you tell that my liners have Tinker Bell all over them?  I wanted to make these very special because Ryan will be taking them to work for his breakfast.  Am VERY good wife.)

The warm muffin will have a very soft almost custard-like texture.  The glaze adds a kick of lemony wonderfulness to each bite.  SO good.  The completely cooled product will, as I said, have a more cupcake-like texture.  Still SO good.

Enjoy Blogstalkers!  What do you think of the new blog?