Courgette Zucchini Double Chocolate Muffin Recipe

Courgette / Zucchini Double Chocolate Muffins

Feeling overwhelmed by courgettes? Tired of finding ways to hide zucchini in your meals? It’s time to make these delicious chocolate muffins!

These moist, flavoursome and chocolatey muffins are a delicious way to use up seasonal gluts.

Other courgette recipes: try my Courgette and Banana Muffins: Courgette, Coconut and Lemon Basil Muffins and Crunchy Courgette Gardeners’ Muffins.

Don’t let the idea of adding courgettes to your muffins put you off. The zucchini makes these muffins really moist, and may well add vitamins too, but they don’t taste of them.

A firm favourite in our household, you can easily vegan-ise these muffins using vegan egg replacements and plant milk.

This recipe makes 12 standard sized muffins.

Ingredients

3 tbsp cocoa powder
280g/10 oz plain flour, white or brown*
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon (optional)
120g/4 oz soft brown sugar
60 ml/ 2 fl oz milk
85g / 3oz butter, melted – or 85ml/3 fl oz sunflower or other light oil
1 large egg
1-2 tsp vanilla essence
350g/12 oz courgette, grated. I leave the peel on, remove it if you don’t like green flecks in your muffin
90g/3 oz chocolate chips **

* sometimes I use 50/50 white and wholemeal flour, 100% wholemeal is yummy but not quite as light
You can use self raising flour. If so, omit the baking powder but not the bicarbonate of soda.

** for a healthier muffin, replace the chocolate chips with the same quantity of sultanas, raisins or other dried fruit

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180° fan (200°C / 375-400°F / Gas Mark 6)

2. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl – flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cocoa powder & cinnamon if using.

3. In another bowl, beat the egg. Add the sugar, milk, cooled melted butter (or oil), vanilla and grated courgette to the beaten egg and stir to mix.

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, add the chocolate chips and stir until there is no flour visible. Don’t over mix.

The mixture is going to look a bit weird and lumpy, but that is good.

5. Pop muffin cases into a muffin tin. If you’re not using muffin cases, grease the tin.

6. Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases, sharing it equally.

7. Place in the centre of the oven and bake for around 20-25 minutes. Gently press the top of a muffin. If it springs back, the muffins are cooked.

8. Place on a cooling rack and allow to cool.

Store in an airtight tin. These muffins freeze really well.

I use unbleached muffin cases from If You Care which can be composted. I am not sponsored by or affiliated with them, these are just the ones I use, because my muffin tins are ancient and the dough sticks to them if I don’t use cases!