Muffins At Midnight, Anyone?

I don't like to follow the rules when it comes to meal appropriateness. 

Take my high school days when I worked at a place called Paradise Bakery & Cafe. I would stroll into my Sunday shift around 7am with an M&M McFlurry in hand. I was surrounded by racks upon racks of warm-from-the-oven muffins & croissants with endless buttery layers of golden flakes. But I wanted ice cream. 


Who cares what order you eat in if by day's end you've covered all the bases? 

Back to my Paradise days! People always ask me if I ate there all the time. My answer is yes & no. The pricey menu held us back from eating there too much since we didn't eat for free. But true to most of life's little dilemmas, there was a loophole. It was called "breakage". 


Get me, I'm replenishing the muffin baskets. Keeping them lined up with their own kind with OCD precision. Taking in the scent of bananas, the lush red raspberries poking through, the crunchy walnuts clinging to the tops, the "Oops. Oh my gosh! I accidentally just broke the top of this perfectly glazed lemon poppy seed muffin. I'll have to set it aside since it's in no shape to be on display." Translation: Put this muffin in my locker for later.

Within reason, it was totally legal. It was a delicate dance. You wanna call dibs on that chocolate chip cookie that barely has any chocolate chips in it so therefore it's pretty much the tastiest thing ever? Then break it. Naturally. We became good actors. (Side Bar: One of my coworkers actually went on to become a real actor & can now be seen on TV. Which is rad. Ah, I knew him when...)

The point of this is, I eat muffins day or night. Just like cereal. (Gah, don't get me started on cereal!) But at least with muffins you can pull a fast one & sneak in some veggies! 


Lemon Zucchini Muffins, adapted from Cooking A Blue Streak
Makes 12 
For the Muffins:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 small zucchini (about 6 ounces) = 1 ¼ cup grated
Zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
¼ tsp pure vanilla extract
⅔ cup sugar
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
½ cup buttermilk*
2 tbsp lemon juice

For the Glaze: 
(Makes enough for two recipe batches of muffins.)
1-2 tbsp lemon juice
½ cup powdered sugar
⅛ tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat your oven to 350°. Line muffin pans.
2. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder & salt.
3. Trims the ends off the washed zucchini & grate it.
4. Zest the lemon & juice it for later.
5. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs before adding the vanilla, sugar, oil, buttermilk & lemon juice. Mix well.
6. Add the zucchini & lemon zest. Stir in the dry mixture until just combined.
7. Bake the muffins for 16-18 minutes (using the toothpick test for doneness). Heads Up: These muffins don't brown.
8. Once the muffins are cooled, whisk the glaze ingredients together. Spread ½ tsp on each muffin using the back of the measuring spoon.


*If you don't have buttermilk, have no fear! Make your own by putting ½ tbsp of white vinegar in the ½ measuring cup then topping it off with milk. Let it sit for 5 minutes & voila!


One more thing...have a great day on purpose! (The first time I ate these muffins was at midnight. Day or night, I'm tellin' ya!)