Do You Know the Muffin Man? (Summer Squash Muffin Recipe)

I have a plethora of locally grown summer squash.  I did not grow it. I did not buy it.  I did not find it.  My mother-in-law offered it to me, and I simply cannot pass up such goodness.  I am the only one in our house of five who will eat it stewed, roasted, in squash dressing, grilled, etc. Sad, but true.

So, what to do?  Muffins.  Hide it in muffins.  "Why muffins?" you ask.  Well, muffins (and baked goods in general) are good vehicles to hide stuff.  And, we are about to begin the busy school year.  Travel to and from our homeschool co-op will require some dashing out the door with a travel ready breakfast.  Enter summer squash muffins.

I spent an inordinate amount of time researching the internet for muffin recipes, washing, and slicing about 18 cups of summer squash. And, there I was really wishing that I knew the muffin man, because I (in my post-kids-bedtime-wisdom) decided to turn it ALL into muffins.  You know, batch baking and freezing at its best, right???  And 9pm is a great time to attempt quadrupling a recipe you haven't tried before... At least the hubs turned Chopped on the television for me before he gave up and went to bed.

Of the limited recipes found on the internet, this recipe from Taste of Home was the winner, winner, chicken dinner:  http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/yellow-squash-muffins

After reading reviewer comments, I modified the recipe to the following:

Take approximately 1 lb yellow summer squash.  Wash it, top and tail it, and slice it into 1" pieces. No need to peel.  Fill a pot with 1" water, place the squash in, bring water to a boil, cover squash, reduce heat, simmer for 5 minutes or until tender. (Note: Definitely get it tender.  A few years ago, I made squash muffins using diced, raw summer squash.  It was... well, let's say it was "hearty.") Drain and mash, using an immersion (stick) blender. Take 2 cups of that squash to use for the below recipe.

Rendering the squash tender

The pureed product.  Remember to drain well before pureeing.

2 cups cooked summer squash, prepared as noted above
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), melted  **(See notes on subbing applesauce.)
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix squash, melted butter, and egg.*  Place aside.  Mix dry ingredients - flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon.  Add squash mixture to dry ingredients.  Mix until just moist. Grease or line muffin tins. Fill muffin cups until about 3/4 full.  Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes for regular muffin size, about 15 minutes for mini-muffin size. Cool for five minutes before removing to wire rack.
Yield: Approximately 1 dozen regular muffins or 2 dozen mini muffins.

Things are looking promising so far.

Cooling down

*Since I had enough cooked squash to make four batches, I was able to play with the recipe some.  The first time I made the recipe, I used the immersion blender to mix the wet ingredients.  That technique definitely gave a creaminess to the end result.  It made me think of a corn casserole without the hassle of a water bath.  (See info on what a water bath is here.)  If you don't use the immersion blender to mix the wet ingredients, they still taste great. You can mainly tell the difference by looking at the muffin tops. See the below pictures:

The mini souffles, I mean muffins, that resulted when the immersion
blender was used to blend the wet ingredients after pureeing the squash.

The more "rustic" texture of the muffins where the immersion blender
was not used to mix the wet ingredients, only to puree the squash.

**To increase the health quotient of these, you can substitute in no sugar added applesauce for 1/2 of the butter, 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 no sugar added applesauce.  I did this for the second two batches.  Please let me know your results if you substitute 100% of the butter with no sugar added applesauce. The applesauce does make the muffin a little less creamy, in my experience, but it pairs nicely with the cinnamon. You might even be able to pass these off as "Apple Cinnamon Muffins."

Another note: To grease muffin tins and cake pans, I haven't found anything better than Pam for Baking.  I tried Baker's Joy brand, but it smelled like glue to me.  Regular Pam doesn't cut it for detailed pans either; a lot is left stuck to the pan.

I think these summer squash muffins would be great disguised as cupcakes with some chocolate frosting on top, especially if you omit the cinnamon.  Another option would be keep the cinnamon and consider adding chopped walnuts, raisins, and some nutmeg.

What recipes do you use to transform your summer squash?  I'd enjoy hearing your experiences, good and otherwise.

Update:  The kids tried the muffins this morning not knowing the muffins are squash muffins.  Our five year old said "They are like cupcakes!"  Our three year old said "Thank you for making muffins, Momma!"