Zucchini will soon be taking over gardens everywhere, and do I have a recipe for you! You don’t even have to like zucchini to love these Lemon-Poppy Seed Olive Oil Muffins with Zucchini. The veggie plays a supporting role—you can’t really taste anything, but you get to say you’re eating your veggies while enjoying cake for breakfast, plus this recipe helps you use up any zucchini-in-excess situation you may find yourself in. And it helps keep the muffins moist.
The batter—and interior of the muffins—is a sunny yellow color dotted with poppy seeds that just screams summer. The fruity olive oil and lemon in two forms (zest and Limoncello) make these bright and punchy while staying incredibly moist. So moist that I had to use the word three times already. They literally cannot dry out.
The muffin tops dome and the sides basically fry, getting golden-brown and crispy as they bake.
These muffins were a true labor of love. It took me a lot of testing to get the right flavor, texture, amount, and a muffin that actually released from the pans. Because of the sugar and olive oil, these stuck like you wouldn’t believe. I tried lining the muffin cups (but they just stuck to the muffin liners) and using a silicon muffin pan (just…no). Ultimately, I sprayed the shit out of the muffin pan with a baking spray with flour and prayed for the best. Obviously, something worked because I got to this recipe! Also, I absolutely despise when a muffin or cupcake recipe does not make either 12 or 24 muffins, so I had to engineer the recipe to get 12 muffins. 
I highly recommend eating these warm—just out of the oven and hot enough to burn your mouth. Reheat any leftovers in the microwave before eating because warm muffins are just better, right?
These DO NOT need butter, but when have we ever neeeeeded butter? Go ahead…slather them up. Bon appétit and enjoy!
[tasty-recipe id=”41265″]
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