chocolate chocolate-chip muffincakes, I mean cupkins, I mean...

I have encountered a philosophical conundrum in the world of baking which I feel compelled to share with you.

Please consider exhibit A: Zucchinizilla, aka La Courgette Humongousse, the biggest summer squash we harvested this year from our garden:

This monster yielded 4 cups of shredded vegetable matter with which I was required to do something at least edible, preferably tasty. 

The power of the internet provided me with plenty of options as far as recipes containing the above-mentioned ingredient.  I was even pleasantly surprised to see a Ingredient Search Menu automatically pop up on the left hand side of the Google search page.  It conveniently allows you to indicate which ingredients you are interested in using in the recipe so you can narrow down the recipe options based on what you have on hand, or what you don't want in the finished product.  Personally I have no need for pineapple or cranberries in my zucchini bread, although I'm sure it appeals to someone out there...

I found this recipe on Epicurious for chocolate zucchini cupcakes and was pleased to find I had all the ingredients on hand.  Oil, though?  In a cupcake?  I mean, I understand that for some people butter is a serious allergy or dietary no-no, but I am not counting calories and really prefer butter in my baked goods.  I could not find a single edible-sounding recipe for zucchini bread, cupcakes, or muffins that used butter as the fat! 

Over at cupcakeproject.com there is a friendly discussion about the difference between cupcakes and muffins and one poster mentioned the use of butter in cupcakes vs. oil in muffins (another entertaining theory involved the difference in sound that cupcakes and muffins make when you throw them against the wall).  Regardless of this supposed fundamental difference I have always sought out baking recipes that call for melted butter instead of oil - I just think they taste better. 

So I then searched for "substituting butter for oil in baking recipes" and found this totally rad affirmation of my desire to consume dairy. I immediately went to my Twitter and found @OChefTweets and subscribed - sites like Cooks.com and the Food Network site are great and all for general information or reliable basic recipes but sometimes I find they lack the oomph, the "I'm gonna say what I really think!" personality of a smaller site like OChef.com.

I tweaked a few more things in the recipe (more cocoa!  more sugar!  yeah!!!) and this is the amended version that I used to make some pretty darn good cupcakes.  Or muffins.  Whatever:

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoon 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil melted and cooled unsalted sweet cream butter
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 pound zucchini, coarsely grated (1 cup)
• 6 oz. package semisweet milk chocolate chips

• Equipment: a muffin pan with 12 (1/2-cup) cups with paper liners

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

I did this about 2 hours earlier than I ought to have but that's what happens when your toddler finally decides he's ready for some lunch in the middle of a baking project...

Whisk together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. 

 I opened a brand spanking new container of cocoa and it was quite lumpy.  The recipe didn't require sifting but this is what my dry ingredients looked like without it, with small lumps of cocoa everywhere that the whisk just wasn't able to incorporate:

Something I've learned over the years with cooking and baking is to follow your instincts.  It is very rare that they are wrong.  So I sifted away.

And after sifting twice it looked like this:

HUGE difference.  If you ask me, anyway.  And this is my blog, dammit.

Beat together sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla in a large bowl with an electric mixer until thick and creamy, 2 to 3 minutes.

Like I mentioned, I melted a stick of butter and used it instead of the oil.  I guess I could have simply used it at room temperature and creamed it with the sugar and egg but I figured there was something to the viscosity of the oil and went ahead and melted it.  I certainly did not clarify.  That is way too complicated and there's already enough about baking that is complex - I try to keep things as simple as is humanly possible.

I also strive to be as much of a Luddite as is possible in the kitchen.  The recipe says to use an electric mixer - I scoffed.  Until it still looked like this after several minutes of beating with a whisk:

I succumbed and got out my hand mixer and beat for another couple of minutes.  It definitely was not thick and creamy, at least not like I figured it ought to be, until I used the machine.

At low speed, mix in flour mixture until just incorporated. Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips.

Again, I simply stirred the dry ingredients in with a spoon.  I tend not to trust mixers when it comes to this stage of baking.

You can even still see some unincorporated flour on the sides of the bowl - I figured (correctly, I might add) that adding the zucchini and chocolate chips might take some work since the batter was fairly dense.

Divide among lined muffin cups and bake until tops spring back when lightly pressed, 30 to 35 minutes.

I cannot help myself.  I must alternate colors if I am using two different kinds of paper cupcake liners.

Cool in pan 5 minutes, then turn out to cool completely.

(Yeah, that's the recycling on the floor.  Kitchen photo fail.)

The finished product!  I honestly don't know if I would call these cupcakes or muffins - they are a bit crisp on the top (maybe could have been removed from the oven a few minutes earlier) but very moist and fluffy in the middle.  I wouldn't have thought to combine chocolate with zucchini but it is very pleasant.  I feel just a smidge better about eating and serving this to my family since it contains a vegetable.  Probably a misguided notion, but what the hey...

Now... What should I do with the other 3 cups of grated zucchini?!?!?