Yellow squash muffins
Instructions:
- Vegetable oil spray;
- 21⁄2 cups all-purpose flour;
- 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar;
- 1⁄4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar;
- 11⁄2 teaspoons baking powder;
- 1⁄4 teaspoon baking soda;
- 3⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt;
- 11⁄2 teaspoons ground cinnamon;
- 3⁄4 teaspoon ground ginger;
- 1⁄4 teaspoon ground nutmeg;
- 1⁄3 cup golden raisins;
- 1⁄3 cup chopped walnuts;
- 2 large eggs;
- 3⁄4 cup water;
- 1⁄3 cup vegetable oil;
- 1 cup lightly packed grated yellow summer squash.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Mist the top of a standard 12-cup muffin tin with the spray. Mist the cups or line them with paper muffin cups. Be sure to use a light metal muffin tin. Dark metal and nonstick tins - even when lined with paper cups - make the crust too thick and dark.
- Whisk together the flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, raisins, and walnuts in a large bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until the whites and yolks are blended, then whisk in the water and oil. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir with a rubber spatula only until the dry ingredients disappear into the batter. Fold in the squash.
- Divide the batter among the muffin cups. Bake the muffins until a tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 minutes.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Turn the muffins out onto a clean tea towel and let them cool upside down.
- What else works? You can use grated zucchini, apples, sweet potatoes, or carrots in place of some or all of the squash. You can use pecans in place of the walnuts.
- Tips and Techniques. There are a few easy steps to making attractive muffins that rise well and are not shot through with holes. First, don’t overmix the batter; stir only until the dry ingredients disappear. To make muffins uniform in size with pretty rounded tops, use a spring-loaded scoop to plop the batter into the muffin tin. Next, even if you are using paper liners in the tin, mist the top of the tin with vegetable oil spray. The edges that rise out of the cup and touch the top of the pan will release without tearing.