Lemon Zucchini Muffins with Lemon Glaze

We just returned from spending the summer in sunny California!  What a nice extended vacation.  We stayed with my Aunt who has the most fabulous fruit trees in her backyard.  How nice to go out and pick a lemon, orange or apple anytime we wanted.  I use lemons ALL the time when I cook and bake so this was just super convenient.  Also since it was so nice and hot where we were and you pick the lemons fresh off the tree you get this warm very juicy piece of fruit to use which was so easy to extract juice from.  The kids made fresh lemonade a few times which they absolutely LOVED.  The recipe that I made, Lemon Zuchinni Bread was super delicious and light and refreshing.  The perfect summer treat.

Beautiful Lemon Tree

Ingredients:

1 c grated Zucchini
Zest of 1 lemon
2 TB lemon juice
1 c sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk (or scant 1/2 c of milk with 1 TB lemon juice mixed in)
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tap salt

Lemon icing
1 c powdered sugar
2 TB lemon juice
1 TB milk

Preparation:

For cake mix dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder) together and set aside

In large bowl beat eggs, add sugar and oil and mix until combined.  Next add buttermilk and lemon juice and lemon zest. Fold in grated Zuchinni.

Add dry ingredients to wet and stir until well combined.

Pour into prepared lined muffin tins to make muffins or a greased loaf pan to make a cake.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 min for muffins or 40-45 min for loaf pan.

For the icing combine powdered sugar, lemon juice and milk together.  Drizzle over warm cake.

Enjoy!

Zucchini and Yellow Squash Cinnamon Chip Cupcakes with Caramel Frosting

As usual I had some produce that I wanted to use so it didn't go to waste.  I had a HUGE zucchini and a HUGE yellow squash.  I wasn't in the mood to make something savory so I made these really delicious cupcakes.  It's a combination of a few recipes plus with a bunch of changes I made myself.  The end result was a really YUMMY one.  I made 24 zucchini cinnamon chip cupcakes and 24 yellow squash cinnamon chip cupcakes but I think next time I'll just combine the two.  Good thing I made 48 cupcakes because I wanted to bring at least 24 to a friends house and my family (my husband and 3 kids ate ALL the other 24 in less than a day).  I guess they liked them.  I thought they were delicious without the frosting but with the frosting, WOW!  I never made a caramel frosting before and now it's a new favorite of mine. 

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup apple juice 

1 teaspoon almond extract or vanilla

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups zucchini or yellow squash, grated (you could also do a combination of both)

1 cup of cinnamon chips

Caramel Frosting

1/2 lb caramels unwrapped (about 28 caramels)

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup water 

3-4 cups powdered sugar

Preparation:

Cupcakes:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Fill muffin tins with cupcake liners. Wash and grate zucchini, set aside.   In a large bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla and apple juice, set aside.  In a medium bowl whisk together, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.  Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet until completely combined.  Mix in the grated zucchini and cinnamon chips..  Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full

Bake for about 15 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted in the middle comes out clean

Cool completely before frosting.

Frosting:
Melt caramels in water in top of double boiler over boiling water, stirring now and then.  Cool sauce to room temperature. Thoroughly cream the butter add salt.  Add sugar alternately with the caramel sauce, blending till frosting is smooth and creamy.  You can spread the frosting on with a knife or put frosting in a pastry bag fitted with a large circle or large star tip and pipe frosting out.  A little goes a long way.....this frosting is very sweet. 

Healthy Chocolate Chip Zuchinni Bread

My family begs me to make this recipe on a weekly basis.  Sometimes I make it with chocolate chips sometimes with carrots, sometimes with mashed banana etc.  You really can add anything you like to this.  Also it's pretty much guilt free since it's fairly low in sugar, no oil and 2/3 whole wheat flour.  You don't miss any of what I took out....it's scrumptous!

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 1/4 granulated sugar 

2 cups grated zucchini

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups whole wheat flour (King Aurthur flour is best)

1 cup all-purpose white flour 

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F Spray two 8x4 inch loaf pans with non stick spray. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in applesauce and sugar. Stir in zucchini and vanilla. Combine flours, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt and chocolate chips; stir into the egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans. Bake for about 1 hour, or until done.

Linked to Julies Eats and Treats Zucchini Blog Hop