What's Cookin': Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

I haven't posted a new recipe in a looooonngggg time, but that doesn't mean I haven't been cooking, it's just that our meals have been a little more utilitarian lately and less post-worthy.  We have a healthy, usually homemade, meal on the table and we eat as a family each evening, but when catering to the taste buds of a toddler, combined with a total of 20 minutes to prepare your meal, you tend to go with what's tried and true. That doesn't mean I haven't stopped looking and bookmarking, though.  I coworker turned me onto Iowa Girl Eats some time ago and I've come to love her recipes and tips.  Most of her recipes are straightforward and healthy and her Friday Favorites will make your mouth water.  With the farmer's market brimming with zucchini and before pumpkin baking season is in full swing, I got the hankering to try these muffins the day she posted.  Enter Monday Night Football and a house that was relatively in order, and I got my baking on ... and boy did it feel good!  Yoga, cleaning and baking/cooking are my therapy these days : )

These muffins were a hit with everyone in the family, husbands, Mommies and toddlers alike ... and chocked full of zucchini to boot!  If you haven't tried the good 'ol substitution of unsweetened applesauce for oil in your baking recipes, then you're missing out.  I've been doing it for years and no one is the wiser, except my waistline; the results are moist and delicious without the fat.  So, If you've got zucchini handy, or have a farmers market close by, give these muffins a try!

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

From Iowa Girl Eats

Makes 22 muffins, 5 Weight Watcher points plus per muffin

Ingredients: 
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk *
2-1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a muffin tin with liners then lightly spray with nonstick spray. Set aside.
Beat butter, unsweetened applesauce, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Mixture will look curdled. Add eggs then mix to combine. Add vanilla and buttermilk then mix to combine.

In a separate bowl stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients in 3 batches, mixing until just combined before adding the next batch. Add zucchini and chocolate chips then mix until just combined.

Scoop batter into liners filling 3/4 of the way full. Bake for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (Mine took closer to 22 - 25 minutes) Let cool in muffin tin for 3 minutes then remove to a cooling rack to cool completely.

* I never seem to have buttermilk on hand when needed, so I usually make sour milk by following these steps: Use the same amount of sour milk as buttermilk. For each 1 cup of sour milk, place 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar in a glass measuring cup.  Add enough milk to make 1 cup total liquid; stir. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes  and stir before using.