I am up to my eyeballs in cherries right now. Tony brings them home from work by the bucketful, so I’ve been trying to find ways to use them up. I decided to try using them in muffins, and I thought chocolate and cherries would go well together. And I figured why not throw a zucchini in there while I’m at it?
I happened to have some zucchini in our weekly delivery of local produce from Fresh2U.ca. I love waking up on Saturday morning to find a green box full of fresh vegetables and fruits waiting for me. It’s like Christmas morning…but with vegetables. Anyway, the zucchini was a perfect addition to these muffins. They were so moist and so delicious that we devoured the entire batch before the end of the day.
All three of the kids were happy with these muffins, but I only got photos of two of them. Bennett ran off somewhere to eat his muffin in peace. The boys couldn’t believe there was zucchini in them, because you really can’t tell at all.
What a fantastic way to use up the plethora of cherries in our house. If Tony brings home any more cherries, I totally know what I’m going to be making first!
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup buttermilk (or soured milk)
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tbsp. ground flax seed
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 cups grated zucchini
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup pitted cherries, coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Mix butter, oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk.
- In another bowl, combine flour, flax, cocoa powder, baking soda, and baking powder.
- Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, and stir just until combined.
- Fold in zucchini, chocolate chips, and cherries.
- Divide evenly into 12 large greased or lined muffin tins.
- Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes.
Food and Whine 
I wish I had an abundance of cherries to work with!! Lucky you! The muffins sound delicious!
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Thanks! Yes, too many cherries are never a bad thing.
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Oh these look super yummy! I think I’m going to give them a go this afternoon!
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Hi Megan:) what a healthy and interesting combo:) I will try me some:) BTW beautiful pictures!
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Thanks Roya!
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Do you come up with these recipes on your own? Delicious! Did you tell the kids about the zucchini before or after they ate them? 😉
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Hi Jac, most of the time I come up with them on my own or adapt them from a recipe. For this one I used an old zucchini cake recipe from my recipe box as a guide and turned it into something new. I mentioned to the kids before they ate the muffins that there was zucchini in them, because they asked me what was in them, but luckily they were still willing to try them!
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These look delish! Where do you get your muffin wrappers?
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Thanks! I actually got the wrappers at Christmas as a gift, so I’m not sure where to buy them, but they’re awesome.
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looks like a win. great combo! will try.
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These look great! I have some cherries leftover from a big punnet I bought at the market the other week, so this is perfect. Quick question: have you tried using melted coconut oil in place of the vegetable oil in this recipe? I’m not a huge fan of vegetable oil, so I thought I might try that instead. Just wondering if you had any problems with it or not. Cheers!
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I haven’t tried it with this particular recipe but I think it would be fine. I’ve used melted coconut oil in place of vegetable oil in other muffin recipes with good results.
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