Zucchini cupcakes

This year has been the first year that we have been able to have a veggie patch and grow some of our own fruit and vegetables. We had peas, strawberries, beans, spaghetti squash and zucchini (boy did we have zucchini). Our zucchini plant went crazy and produced heaps of zucchini and some even grew to be giant (2.2 kg). I had to find things to do with said zucchini, so I made zucchini lasagne (when you use zucchini as pasta sheets), zucchini pizza (where you use grated zucchini as the base), zucchini bread and of course zucchini cupcakes. 

Zucchini cupcake

This recipe turned out really well, the resulting cupcakes were moist and delicious with a nice bit of spice. The icing is really easy to make and with it's hint of lemon zest, it really compliments the flavours of the muffins. These cupcakes are also OK for all our gluten-free friends out there!

So here we go: 

Zucchini cupcakes with coconut frosting

 You can see one of our giant zucchinis here.

Ingredients

Cakes

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
3/4 cup finely grated zucchini
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Frosting

1 can of coconut milk refrigerated overnight and the cream scraped off the top.
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon zest
50 g powdered coconut milk
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tbsp coconut flour

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Place coconut flour, salt, mixed spice and baking powder into a food processor and blend until combined.

2. Add eggs, honey, coconut oil and blend until combined.

3. Stir through grated zucchini.

4. Put into baking cups and bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.

5. Let cool before icing

To make icing:
1. Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes.
3. Enjoy!

Zucchini cupcakes! Yum!

Recipe

Zucchini cupcakes with coconut frosting

Ingredients

Cakes

1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/3 cup honey
3/4 cup finely grated zucchini
1/2 tsp mixed spice

Frosting
1 can of coconut milk refrigerated overnight and the cream scraped off the top.
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon zest
50 g powdered coconut milk
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tbsp coconut flour

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Place coconut flour, salt, mixed spice and baking powder into a food processor and blend until combined.
2. Add eggs, honey, coconut oil and blend until combined.
3. Stir through grated zucchini.
4. Put into baking cups and bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.
5. Let cool before icing

To make icing:
1. Place all ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth.
2. Pipe or spread onto cupcakes.
3. Enjoy!

These last in the fridge for 5 days. 

Panettone French Toast

I first made this recipe last year after Christmas. Last year, I made two panettone for Christmas and took one with me to my partner's family Christmas. As it turned out, none of them actually liked it so I was left with 1 and 3/4 of panettone all to myself. I didn't really know what to do with it, then I thought "how about French toast?" as panettone is not super sweet it would be fine for breakfast. So I tried it out and it turned out great! I ate that 1 and 3/4 of panettone without any hassle. Nom Nom!

Panettone French toast

Let's take a step back and talk about Panettone. It is an Italian Christmas treat, like a Christmas cake with dried fruit in it (although I have seen them with chocolate chips instead). It is not very sweet and is more like a sweet bread. It is naturally leavened which means that, like sourdough, it is made using natural yeasts that you find on the surface of the flour. You prepare a starter culture from flour and water and let it grow until it is strong enough to raise a loaf of bread, then use it to prepare your panettone. Letting a naturally leavened dough rise usually takes several hours or overnight (and rising usually occurs more than once during the process) so to make one at home is really a labour of love. Most people nowadays will just buy their panettone from the shop.

Last year we were given a panettone from my Zia but as I had over catered Christmas, we didn't get to eat it at Christmas time. I decided that I would make and Italian dessert called zuccotto with it, this dessert is similar to trifle with cake and different layers of sweetened ricotta inside. After I made this, I had a bit of panettone left over and this morning I decided that French toast was in order. I thought I would share the recipe with you; it is super simple and quick to make.

Panettone

Here's the recipe:

Panettone French Toast

Ingredients

2 eggs

250g Panettone

1/8 cup milk

Fresh fruit and mascarpone or ricotta to serve

1. Cut you panettone into thick chunks.

Cut up panettone (approx 5cm x 3cm x 2cm)

2. Lightly beat eggs and milk with a fork.

Eggs and milk

3. Heat butter in frying pan.

4. Soak panettone in the egg and milk mixture (make sure you dip each side).

Dipping panettone in egg and milk mixture.

5. Fry the panettone in the heated pan. Turning to make sure you brown each side.

Frying the panettone.

6. Serve the panettone french toast with mascarpone and fresh berries and maybe even a coffee. Yum! I love this toast on it's own as well, you don't have to put the fruit and cheese on it if you don't want to.

Enjoy!

What is your favourite use for left over panettone?