Sweet and Spicy Zucchini Muffins From The 21st century housewife

This Week, I am introducing you to April of  The 21st century housewife, she is also co-host of Hearth and soul blog hop. She is a  great friend of mine and is currently settled in UK, and blogs about wonderful and tasty recipes.  When I asked her about doing a guest post, she immediately agreed and send me  a recipe which turned out to similar to  the one Alea send me, so she  told me not to post it and send   me another one.  This  recipe is  wonderful, as it contains Zucchini. I had baked a zucchini pineapple ginger cup cake earlier and had turned out to be of good taste, so I can bet on this recipe to be delicious, so friends try this one when you get some time.

Hello Zesty South Indian Kitchen readers! I’m so pleased Swathi asked me to do a guest post for her. Swathi and I work together on the Hearth and Soul hop, and I love her recipes.

Today I am sharing a delicious muffin recipe with lots of wholesome ingredients. Although the pretty green flecks in these colourful muffins do give away the fact that they contain healthy ingredients, even kids seem to love them. I was lucky to find a fantastic cranberry, raisin and sultana blend of dried fruits one of the times I made these, but I often just mix them together myself from individual packages. If you don’t have any dried cranberries, or if you are not keen on them, you can use a full cup of raisins and/or sultanas instead. These muffins are best served warm, so store any leftovers in the fridge and reheat them in the microwave before serving.

Sweet and Spicy Zucchini Muffins

Makes 12 muffins

1 cup grated zucchini (one small to medium zucchini)

¾ cup sugar

⅓ cup vegetable oil (I used sunflower)

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1½ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground ginger

grated rind of 1 orange

½ cup dried cranberries

½ cup raisins or sultanas

Preheat oven to 350ºF (170ºC). Line muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix the zucchini, sugar, oil, vanilla and eggs.

In another medium bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices. Add the orange rind and dried fruit to the flour mixture and stir in.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until blended. Do not over-mix.

Divide the batter between the muffin cups, filling them half full. I use a quick release ice cream scoop for this, and it works beautifully.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center of the muffins comes out clean.

Thank you April for this wonderful Guest Post.