Healthy Zucchini Superfruit Muffins! You won't believe these muffins make a healthy addition to breakfast and brunch by tasting them, but they're bursting with wholesome ingredients! Sweetened with coconut sugar and fortified with flax, superfruits and zucchini, they're a muffin you'll want to make again and again.
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Barlean’s, as a part of my ongoing partnership as part of their Blogger Team. As always, all opinions here are my own.
'Tis the season of brunching! When the weather finally starts to cooperate across the country, those overhead brunch shots on Instagram start to pop up even faster than the tulips, and you know that spring is here.
There's something about warmer weather and having the go-ahead to wear white again {haha} that makes people want to sit down to a table of delicacies somewhere in the middle of breakfast and lunchtime. Makes perfect sense to me.
What doesn't quite make the same sense is why, with "bikini season" on the horizon, we'd purposely serve our friends calorie bombs like Eggs Benny, French Toast and Quiche. {Not that I don't love all three of those things deeply.} Sabotage, perhaps???
Ok, I'm only kidding... you know I'm all about balance, and I say brunch on whatever your little heart desires without thinking about how "little" your bathing suit bottoms might be come June. BUT. {Not butt. 😉 } If you are trying to keep things clean this spring, then I've got an item that you can serve to your Brunch Bunch with no qualms: Healthy Zucchini Superfruit Muffins.
Who doesn't love a treat that also packs a nutritious punch? These tender muffins are filled to the brim with healthy fats, fiber, superfruits and even veggies -- but don't let that make you think they taste like cardboard, because you'd be terribly mistaken. {My 3-year-old, who is going through an extremely picky eating phase scarfed one of these down and then begged me for more. I must've done something right!}
I revamped an old zucchini bread recipe to include a few of my favorite Barlean's products -- their ground flax Superfruit Blend and Culinary Coconut Oil -- then sweetened up the deal with coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar. I cut out some of the flour by using the flax blend, traded regular oil for coconut oil and added extra moisture without fat with the addition of unsweetened strawberry applesauce and a handful of finely grated zucchini. {Make sure to squeeze out the excess moisture before putting it in or it'll make things soggy.}
The result was a batch of these scrumptious muffins that I'm pretty sure are going to become a pastry basket requirement at all my future brunches. {If my son has anything to say about it, at least.} Since I wanted to entice Cole to try them before I knew they'd be such a hit, I added a small amount of mini-semi sweet chocolate chips and, while they are always a welcome addition, they aren't even necessary. But I'll let you make the call on that.
The call I won't be making? One for brunch reservations. Unless, of course, they allow me to bring a batch of my own Healthy Zucchini Superfruit Muffins for the table. 😉
Healthy Zucchini Superfruit Muffins
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup Barlean's Superfruit Blend plus extra for sprinkling
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ⅛ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup unsweetened strawberry applesauce
- ¼ cup Barlean's Culinary Coconut Oil melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup finely shredded zucchini squeezed to remove some of the moisture*
- {Optional} ½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare a muffin tin by greasing 10 wells, or by lining with 10 liners.
- In a large bowl, whisk together flour, Superfruit Blend, coconut sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
- In a small bowl, beat the egg, strawberry applesauce, coconut oil, and vanilla. Stir in the shredded zucchini.
- Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and fold together until just moistened. Fold in chocolate chips, if using.
- With an ice cream scoop, scoop the better into the muffin cups or tin. Sprinkle extra Superfruit Blend {and extra chocolate chips, if desired!} over the top.
- Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean or with a few sticky crumbs {Or remove from muffin tins & place on cooling rack for muffins.}
- Cool for 15-20 minutes before serving. Serve with berry preserves if desired!
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