Quinoa Flour + Garden Cleanout

photo by mnapolean via flickr creative commons

Our garden is overflowing with tomatoes and zucchini these days.  The kids are making sure the tomatoes get plucked from the tangled vines once they’re red and juicy, but we’ve let the zucchini get a little bit out of control.  OK, a lot out of control.  Sean bushwhacked his way thorough the leaves last week to find a few that had embarrassingly grown to the size of bowling pins.  Everyone who has seen them sitting on the counter during the past week has said something like “woah, do you know that you’re not supposed to let zucchini get so big?” or “is that seriously a zucchini?” or “when zucchini are that overgrown, all you can really do with them is make bread.”

So…making bread is what we did yesterday afternoon.  Muffins, actually.  Delicious, warm, gooey, chocolatey, zucchini-y muffins — a true feat for the sporadic bakers in our house.  I had some quinoa flour in the cupboard and have been wanting to try using it, so searched for a recipe using zucchini and quinoa flour.  And bingo — I found a great one:

Rich Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

• ⅔ cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 2 cups quinoa flour
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 ounces)

1. Mix the brown sugar, canola oil, and eggs in the bowl at low speed; add applesauce until mixture is smooth.

2. Whisk together the quinoa flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add to the mixer bowl and beat until the ingredients are smooth and well combined. Using a spoon or a rubber spatula, fold in the zucchini and the chocolate chips.

3. Pour the mixture into two greased muffin plans.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25-ish minutes until a utensil or toothpick comes out clean.

These were a huge hit, and would have been good even without the chocolate chips.  I’m definitely going to make quinoa flour a baking staple (you know, like four times a year).  Enjoy!

Have you ever baked with quinoa or any other special flours?  Make anything delicious?  Oh, and if you have any ideas about what to do with an armful of zucchini, please let me know!