Zucchini Pumpkin Muffins

My kids love to have baked goods for breakfast (and truthfully, I love that my 11-year-old can get breakfast easily for 3 kids while I feed the baby. The problem is that most store-bought muffins or breakfast items they want are full of sugar.

I decided to start looking up healthier options so they get (sort of) what they want and I approve of the ingredients. The problem that I found is that lots of ‘clean’ baking recipes use a bunch of egg as a binder and end up with a texture that just isn’t quite right. You know the feeling when somebody takes a bite of something that you worked hard on and says “Oh, so this is healthy?”

Crushing!

I was determined to find a recipe that worked and still tasted good. After trying hundreds of variations, I finally found one that is not too sweet and not too eggy and that all my kids love.

WIN!!

These are now their favorite muffins and they don’t last long when I make them so I need to start making double batches and keeping the extras in the freezer. I hope you end up loving these as much as we do!

Ingredients:

1 ½ Cup White Wheat Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

¼ tsp Salt

1 Cup Plain Pumpkin Puree (not pumpkin pie mix!)

1 large Zucchini shredded (extra water squeezed out)

½ Cup Pure Maple Syrup

1 TBSP Coconut Oil, melted

1 Egg

½ Cup Unsweetend Almond Milk

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

½ Cup Chocolate Chips *optional

Instructions:

Preheat your oven to 350F

Grease your mini muffin tins

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl

In a separate bowl, combine everything else (except the chocolate chips) and stir until smoothly blended

Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir just enough to fully combine

Stir in the chocolate chips

Add batter evenly into the muffin tins

This usually makes me 36 mini muffins or 18 full sized muffins

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean- about 25-30 minutes*

Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then move to a cooling rack

Enjoy!! These taste great fresh and warm, straight from the oven. Or, they can be stored covered on the counter for 3 days, in the fridge for about a week, or freeze them and thaw before eating to extend their freshness even longer.

**because the zucchini and pumpkin are both fairly ‘wet’ beware that it could take a few minutes longer than the suggested time to cook through so be sure to check them with a toothpick before turning off your oven for doneness.