Zucchini Muffins

the smell and texture of zucchini muffins hold a lot of nostalgia for me.  i have them most firmly associated with the highland park cafeteria in dallas, and i think i must've been pretty young when i had my first one...they taste like warm, comfortable memories!

i used zucchini from the farmer's market, 3 silkie eggs and unbleached all-purpose flour. i have found that the latter is slightly more expensive, but seems healthier and ...heartier? than the more processed regular bleached flour.  it says it is all-natural and has lots of fiber, and isn't especially different-textured. so i'll take it!

so, preheat the oven to 400.  lightly grease a muffin pan.  grate 2 cups of zucchini, skin and all, on a regular box-style grater.  it appears that one medium zucchini equals just about 2 cups, which surprised me!  put the grated zucchini on paper or dish towels and squeeeeeeeeeze out all the moisture.  (don't be obsessive though.) set aside.

whisk 2 cups of flour, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, pinch salt (sea preferable) and hefty pinch cinnamon in a small bowl or large measuring cup.

in a bigger bowl, dump 1/2 cup vegetable oil, followed by 1/2 cup white and 1/2 cup brown sugar (or whatever kind of sugar/combination...i love brown sugar). cream until fluffy.  add eggs, one by one, with a solid beating in between each.  add a teaspoonish (or capfulish) of vanilla extract.  mix it all up well!

introduce the flour mixture to the sugar mixture one third at a time, stirring quickly and not too much.  lumps are ok!  fold in your tasty zucchini shreds.  (this is a good time to 'quality assurance check' the batter, if you're a batter fan, like yours truly.)

fill the muffin pan's muffin cups about 3/4 full, a generous glop in each one.  pop in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes.  trust your schnazz to tell you when they are done--you can tell by the smell!  (and when something stuck in one of 'em comes out clean...)

cool for about 5-10 minutes in the pan, and then de-muffincup the muffins and devour.  extra decadent is a little soft butter spread on a sliced muffin half.  and see those tasty green zucchini bits?  you're totally eating vegetables, right?? MMMMMMMM. (they will keep for 1-2 days, maybe a bit longer in the fridge.)