Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
This recipe makes 12-14 muffins.
Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 15 minutes
Cooling time: 30 minutes (or until cool enough to eat)
Total time: 30 minutes (not including cooling time)
Equipment needed: muffin tin, mixing bowls, rubber spatula, whisk, measuring cups/spoons, digital scale (if weighing in grams)
See *Notes for more important tips/clarifications.
Every summer growing up, my parents tended to a garden full of summer veggies from peppers and green beans to summer squash and zucchini. Without fail, a few of those zucchinis would turn into a yummy couple of batches of zucchini bread. My mom used a fairly traditional recipe with raisins, nuts, and some fall spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. It was one of my favorites.
During college, one of my dining halls served this amazing chocolate zucchini bread that had all the great flavors of traditional zucchini bread but with the added bonus of lots of chocolate chips and a yummy chocolate flavor. It was perfectly moist and wasn’t overly sweet or too chocolatey. I wanted to create my own recipe that would be somewhat of a combination of these two. These double chocolate zucchini muffins are great for breakfast, a mid-day snack, or even for those late-night cravings. And hey, there’s zucchini packed in there, so that counts as one of your daily servings of vegetables, right?!
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups (195 grams) of all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (42 grams) natural unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup (100 grams) of granulated sugar
1/4 cup (50 grams) of dark brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup (130 grams) of vegetable or canola oil
1/4 cup of sour cream, room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup (75 grams) of hot coffee
1 1/2 cups of shredded zucchini, about 230 grams or 8 oz
about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, plus a few extra for topping (optional)
turbinado sugar for topping, optional
*Notes:
Make sure the egg and sour cream are at room temperature before baking. You can take them out of the fridge about 30 minutes before baking.
The sour cream: I love adding sour cream to my muffins for a little extra fat and tang. If you don’t have sour cream, you can use Greek yogurt, plain yogurt, or marscapone cheese!
The coffee: For the coffee use freshly brewed hot coffee, not instant coffee. Just save the amount needed from your morning pot and heat it up later! Mixing the hot coffee with half of the cocoa powder helps to make the muffins extra fudgy. Plus, it basically smells like hot chocolate so that’s an added bonus too.
Chocolate chips: I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, but milk chocolate or dark chocolate would work well too. and mixed some in the batter and put some on top before baking. Milk chocolate or dark would work well too. Topping the zucchini muffins with extra chocolate chips and/or turbinado sugar is completely optional, but very yummy! Chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts would be good too.
Storing information: These muffins are best eaten the day of but can be stored in airtight containers for 2-3 days at room temperature and up to 1 week in the fridge. Heat for 10-15 seconds in the microwave.
How to achieve the bakery-style domed muffin tops:
Starting the oven temperature at 425°F creates a burst of steam to help give the muffins that initial rapid rise. Read more here!
How to make Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins:
Preheat oven to 425 °F and prepare one 12 cup cupcake tray with cupcake liners.
Start by shredding the zucchini with a box grater. Use the biggest holes on the grater and use a paper towel to lightly dab the shredded zucchini with a paper towel if it’s extra watery. Remember: you want to retain most of the moisture from the zucchini to make the muffins extra moist.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, half of the cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
Heat up the coffee for about 30 seconds and whisk in the other half of the cocoa powder.
In a medium bowl, whisk both sugars, the eggs, oil, sour cream, and vanilla for 30 seconds to 1 minute, until combined. Add the coffee/cocoa powder mixture and whisk until incorporated.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the dry ingredients until the flour is just incorporated. Do not overmix - it’s okay if your batter is a little lumpy. Fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips
Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin tin. The cups should be about 3/4 of the way full.
Before baking, if you wish, sprinkle additional chocolate chips and/or turbinado sugar on top. I did about half with the chocolate chips and half with just sugar. Have fun with this step!
Bake the muffins at 425°F for 5-7 until the batter rises 1/4-1/2 an inch above the liners. Turn the oven down to 350°F and bake for an additional 10-12 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.
Let cool and enjoy!
