Chocolate & Toasted Coconut Zucchini Muffins

In Finn’s earlier post this week, she talked about how food bloggers can occasionally go overboard when describing their recipes. I have to agree; the recipes I post are ones that I love – I wouldn’t post them if they weren’t delicious – but I try not to say “this is the best recipe ever” because, let’s face it, it probably isn’t. I’m no Julia Child! How could I possibly say something I make is the best thing ever?

But these… well. I’m at a loss for words with these. Are they the best zucchini muffins ever? I don’t know, I haven’t tried them all. BUT… holy CRAP are these ever good. They are heaven.

This is the kind of recipe that makes me all giddy inside and forces me to use emojis to convey my absolute excitement. ?❤️???????‼️

Turns out, I reeeeally love my veggies. I’m on a Super Veggie Kick right now, eating and drinking as much of the things as I can. I crave them now, so much so that just last night I had 1/2 a cucumber (and maybe some peanut butter) for dessert. Dessert! What is happening to me!

Now, the only reason I had cucumber for dessert was because I didn’t have any more of these muffins left. These muffins – a whole dozen – lasted about a day before disappearing. I ate three right out of the oven. You might think I’m joking, but I’m not. Three. Sorrynotsorry. Then Matt came home and had a couple. Then he took some to work the next day to share. Then I had some after work. Then they were gone. My point is: these are insanely delicious and I need to make another batch or two or five.

Zucchini muffins. Have you tried them yet? They really are worth all the hype. There’s something about baking with zucchini that makes magic happen. Since zucchini is so high in moisture (even after squeezing most of the water out!), the resulting muffins are healthy, incredibly moist, and filling enough to curb the 10am coffee-break munchies.

Did I mention they’re healthy? Just look at all that zucchini!

Some friends who tried these muffins called them cupcakes, but I have to disagree. For one, cupcakes have icing, these do not. Two, cupcakes aren’t packed with veggies, and these are. So, while they might seem decadent enough to call cupcakes, they are, in fact, muffins. At least that’s what I’m calling ’em.

Now just because these muffins are filled with zucchini does NOT mean they taste like squash. Quite the opposite! They taste like a decadent, chocolatey dessert, and you won’t even realize they’re packed with vegetables. You can’t even see the zucchini, because it soaks up all the chocolaty goodness and almost looks like more toasted coconut.

The toasted coconut gives the muffins a wonderful nutty undertone and adds just a little bit of texture to wow your taste buds. You could skip the toasting step, but I highly recommend it. Toasting coconut makes it taste a little less sweet and a little more nutty, and it’ll make your house smell amazing.

And as an added bonus, since we’re trying to be all healthy with these muffins (minus the chocolate, okay?) this recipe uses canola oil instead of butter. So you don’t have to feel guilty about eating three out of the oven. Right?

Bet’ya can’t eat just one.