Zucchini Apple Muffins

Here is my latest muffin recipe!  Since it's now summer and zucchini is inexpensive and plentiful, I thought I would come up with another way to use it in muffins.  The grated zucchini and apple keep these muffins nice and moist.     

Recently I have discovered another method that helps cut down on preparation time when making baked goods:  weighing flour using a kitchen scale.  I had read that one cup of white flour is 125 grams.  After measuring and weighing the Bob's Red Mill gluten free flour, I confirmed that one cup of it also is equal to 125 grams.  So if you have a kitchen scale, I highly recommend weighing the flour instead of trying to scoop it out of the bag.  Weighing the flour is more accurate and takes less time, too!  (One caveat is that other gluten-free flours do not weigh the same amount, so be sure to measure other flours using measuring cups or according to the recipe.) 

Zucchini Apple Muffins
makes 6 muffins

Ingredients:

• 3 Tbsp. rice milk
• 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed meal
• 1 small zucchini
• 1 small apple
• 1 cup + 2 Tbsp. Bob's Red Mill gluten-free flour
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 cup white granulated sugar 
• 3 Tbsp. canola oil
• 1/2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract.  Use Trader Joe's alcohol-free vanilla extract or another vanilla extract that does not have corn syrup and is preferably alcohol-free, since the alcohol could be derived from corn. Recently I have been using Rodelle Vanilla Flavor alcohol free all natural extract, which I found at Stop and Shop.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease the muffin tin with canola oil.  Mix the rice milk and flax seed meal in a cup, heat it in the microwave until hot, and stir.

Peel the skin off the zucchini and apple.  Grate the zucchini, pack it firmly into a 1/2 cup measuring cup, and pour the grated zucchini into a small bowl.  Then grate the apple, pack it firmly into the 1/2 cup measuring cup, and transfer it to the bowl with the zucchini.  Be sure to firmly pack as much zucchini and apple into the measuring cup as you can.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  In a different bowl, mix the flax and milk mixture, white sugar, canola oil, cider vinegar, and vanilla extract.  Stir the grated zucchini and apple into the liquid ingredients.  Then pour the wet ingredients into the bowl containing the dry ingredients.  Stir until completely combined.

Pour the batter into the muffin tin using a level 1/3 cup of batter per muffin.  Bake for about 17 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.  Loosen the sides of the muffins with a knife or thin spatula to help the muffins come out of the tin.