When I posted my latest Muffin Monday link on Facebook two weeks ago, a friend I met in South Korea left me an intriguing comment: 

“do you take requests? cause my momma made some bad ass zucchini muffins when i was a kid, i wanted to see your take on something like that.alas i don’t have a recipe to share…”

I immediately wrote to Anuradha to see if we could include it in a Muffin Monday round-up, thinking it would be fun for Alvaro to see 10 or more versions of his childhood Zucchini Muffin, and not just mine. As it happens, An was already planning a Zucchini Muffin in the coming weeks, so she graciously agreed to circulate her recipe to the Muffin Monday crew.

So, Alvaro, these bad ass muffins are for you! 

Love the pop of colour from the zucchini!

After hearing from Alvaro that day, I very quickly developed (read: got my heart set on) an idea of how I wanted these muffins to taste, so I ended up making quite a few changes to the recipe.Rather than using sesame seeds, for example, I used chocolate chips. Last week’s muffins were healthy after all, and isn’t life all about balance? And didn’t I have to do something to make them bad ass? (Excuses, excuses.) For the dried, mixed herbs the recipe called for, I used cinnamon, nutmeg and mace, not unlike the Carrot Spice Muffins from last week. I used yogurt in the place of buttermilk, and coconut oil in the place of sunflower oil or butter.

The end result was a moist, lightly spiced, airy muffin, with just a hint of sweetness from the scattered pieces of chocolate. I ended up with some extra batter, too, so I filled one ramekin with the leftovers.

Sesame, in fact, makes me quite weak in the knees, so I definitely want to try these muffins again soon, using the original recipe from 1 Mix, 100 Muffins.

Zucchini & Sesame Seed Muffins

from 1Mix, 100 Muffins (Susanna Tee)

Ingredients:
2 medium zucchini (roughly 300grams)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper (I omitted this)
2 tablespoon sesame seeds, plus extra for sprinkling on top (I used 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, instead)
1/2 teaspoon dried mixed herbs (I used cinnamon, nutmeg and mace)
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk (I used full-fat, plain yogurt)
6 tablespoons sunflower oil or melted butter (I used coconut oil)

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400F / 200C.
Grease a 12 cup muffin pan or line it with paper liners.
Grate zucchini and squeeze out any excess moisture.
Lightly beat the eggs in another bowl. Beat in the buttermilk and oil.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Stir in the mixed herbs and half the sesame seeds.
Make a well in the center and add in the grated zucchini and the liquid ingredients. Stir gently until just combined.
Spoon the batter into prepared muffin pan and scatter the sesame seeds over the top.
Bake for about 20 minutes.
Let the muffins cool in the pan and then serve warm.

Make sure you head over to Baker Street to see how all the other Muffin Monday bakers interpreted or adapted this recipe!