From Sally Vargas: "These muffins prove that any time of day is a good time for chocolate. Use an ice cream scoop to fill the muffin cups to achieve beautiful rounded tops. Almond flour gives them a rich flavor and moist texture; it is simply finely ground almonds, which you could make yourself in a food processor. To give these muffins sparkle and color, sprinkle them with coarse sugar and a few pinches of chopped pistachios."
Sally also mentions that if you have trouble finding frozen cranberries at the store, frozen raspberries would make a good substitute.
If your grated zucchini seems very wet, use your hands to squeeze out the excess.
Recipe reprinted with permission from The Cranberry Cookbook © 2017 by Sally Pasley Vargas. Reproduced by permission of Globe Pequot, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield. All rights reserved.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (150g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (110g) almond flour
- 1/3 cup (28g) unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup (113g) honey
- 1/4 cup (50g) olive oil
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups grated zucchini (3 to 4 medium zucchini; see Recipe Note)
- 1 cup fresh or frozen whole cranberries
- 2 tablespoons coarse sugar, such as turbinado sugar
- 3 tablespoons chopped green pistachios
Special equipment:
Method
1 Adjust a rack to the middle position of the oven, and heat oven to 400F.
2 Prepare the muffin tin: Generously butter the cups and rims of a standard 12-cup muffin tin, or line the tin with paper cupcake liners. Have on hand a 21/2-inch ice-cream scoop.
3 Combine the dry ingredients: In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, almond flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.
4 Add the wet ingredients: Make a large well in the center of the bowl and break the eggs into it. Add the honey, oil, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat with a fork to mix thoroughly. With a spatula, stir until the flour is well incorporated.
5 Stir in the zucchini and cranberries.
6 Scoop into the muffin cups: Using the ice cream scoop, fill each muffin cup, rounded side up, with about 1/3 cup batter.
Sprinkle the muffins with the turbinado sugar and pistachios, and set the tin on a baking sheet.
7 Bake for 23 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out with just a few crumbs.
8 Set the muffin tin on a rack to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the muffins from the pan and cool on the rack.
