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Zucchini Cherry Muffins
A gluten free alternative to Zucchini bread, this muffin recipe combines frozen cherries with lemons and zucchini to create a slightly sweet richly textured treat.
- 2 cups Gluten Free Flour Mix (The best GF pre-mixed flour blends for muffins use rice and potato flours, and can also have sorghum and tapioca. Stay away from the mixes that use beans when making lighter bake goods like muffins, cakes and cookies. Pre-mixed blends that have Xanthan Gum already added make your job much easier. If your mix does not, add 1/4 tsp per cup of of flour. )
- 2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 Large eggs
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup Grapeseed or Safflower Oil (Both oils have a neutral flavor)
- 1 Tbs Vanilla extract (Use pure Vanilla extract, not imitation. The rich flavor adds warmth to the muffins)
- 1 cup finely grated Zucchini (no need to drain)
- 1 cup Frozen Cherries (thawed and drained)
- 1/2 cup chopped Walnuts (optional if you are not a nut fan, but does add a layer of texture and flavor)
- 1 whole lemon – zest and juiced (organic if you can get it because you will be using the peel for the zest)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease well with butter, making sure you get both top and bottom well so no muffin is left in the pan.
Put the frozen cherries in a colander and rinse them under hot water. Place the colander over a small bowl for the cherries to drain while you are mixing the other ingredients together.
In a Medium bowl mix the flour, salt and baking powder well. Set bowl aside
beat the sugar and eggs in small bowl
add the vanilla and oil to the eggs and sugar mixture, mix well
add the zucchini and nuts to the wet mixture and mix well
add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix just until blended.
Zest and Juice your lemon, and add both to the just blended mixture. As you mix it in, the texture and color will become lighter. The lemon adds just as much, if not more, to the texture as to the flavor.
Gently fold in the drained cherries. This will insure your mixture is light, doesn’t turn pink from your cherries, and the cherries and walnuts won’t sink to the bottom.
Fill your greased muffin tin. You will have enough batter to fill each to just below the rim.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, turning pan half-way through, until they are a golden brown. Let sit until they are cool. Gluten Free bakery can be gummy straight out of the oven. Once cool, the texture is much lighter.
This recipe can be converted to wheat flour with these substitutions
- Substitute GF Flour with 1/2 white wheat, 1/4 cup almond flour 1 cup white flour
- Substitute 2 tsp of baking powder for 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda
- Substitute a whole lemon for 2 Tbs plus the zest. You’re only looking for added flavor here. No need to add more to adjust the texture.
Gluten Free Zucchini – Cherry Muffins with Walnuts and Lemon