Whole-Grain Zucchini Bread Bites

I’ve always been a big list maker. I’m just that type of person. I also tend to make said lists on random scraps of paper and Post-Its and then promptly lose them. I’m also that type of person. Luckily, my summer bucket list is pretty much the same every single year, and I’ve committed it to memory at this point, so I don’t really need to write it down. But I thought I’d document it here for posterity/personal motivation/your voyeuristic pleasure…

Summer To-Do List 2018:
Eat a lobster roll on a dock.
Get popovers at Jordan Pond House.
Climb a mountain.
Ride a bike. (Preferably by water of some sort.)
Picnic in Sheep’s Meadow.
Eat an ice cream cone. (Yes, I eat ice cream every week but never in a cone. A cone is for a special summer occasion.)
SANGRIAAA.
Wear an all-white ensemble. Bonus points if it’s linen.
Crush a grilled cheese at the Northeast Harbor pool.
Roll down a grassy hill.
Beat Logan at tennis.
Make Caprese Quinoa Bake.
Drink an Aperol Spritz while floating in a pool.
Swim in the sub-zero Atlantic waters surrounding Mount Desert Island. (This gives me a headache, but I feel obligated to dunk once a summer.)
Attend an outdoor concert.
Hot dogs.
Nap on as many boats as humanly possible. (Have you ever taken a nap on a boat? Puts a normal nap to shame.)
Drink beer at a baseball game.
Bake zucchini bread.

I’m fully aware that this is an extremely food- and booze-centric list, but that shouldn’t really come as a shock. These are my passions. Sadly, the only things I’ve ticked off so far this summer are lobster roll on a dock, hot dogs, and zucchini bread (we’ll talk about the latter in a second). I need to step up my game.

Not to worry, friends, I made a plan!

Tonight, I will go to Beyonce and Jay-Z at MetLife (outdoor concert, check), where I will attempt to wear all white and eat an ice cream cone.

Next weekend, I head up to Maine, where I will cross off all Mount Desert Island-themed activities. It will be an action-packed 56 hours, but I feel confident I can get them all in—it’s simply a matter of creative scheduling. For example: I could ride a bike to the Northeast Harbor pool to swim in the ocean and fuel up with a grilled cheese before beating Logan at tennis, after which I nap on a boat, SANGRIAAA, and roll down a hill. BOOM. 7 items done in one afternoon.

I’ll squeeze in the few remaining to-dos between next weekend and Labor Day and cap off my summer with a Yankees game in early September. Bucket list handled.

What’s on your summer bucket list? Does it include zucchini bread? Because it should. Specifically these bite-size beauties, which are my personal favorite way to eat zucchini bread. I love tiny food (duh), but I also dig that these bites are ideal for on-the-go breakfasting/snacking, and they freeze like a dream. They’re packed with whole-grain goodness thanks to a combo of whole-wheat flour and rolled oats, lightly sweetened with pure maple syrup, and kept moist (sorry) with unsweetened apple sauce. Not to mention the nutritional boost provided by their namesake zucchini. Zucchini bread bites are the perfect way to take advantage of a summer zucchini haul, and I’m keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that they make an appearance in your kitchen.

If you’re not a tiny food fetishist, you can use the recipe to make full-size muffins (just add about 7-10 minutes to the cook time) or a loaf (which should take about 50 minutes or so).

Whole-Grain Zucchini Bread Bites

Author - Serena Wolf

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Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Yields: 24 bites

Ingredients

• ½ cup pure maple syrup
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/3 cup liquid virgin coconut oil
• 1 large egg beaten
• 1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
• ¾ cup whole-wheat flour
• 2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1½ teaspoons baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup grated zucchini
• 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts optional

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini muffin tin with cooking spray.
• In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the maple syrup, applesauce, coconut oil, egg, and vanilla extract. (If your maple syrup or applesauce is chilled, microwave or warm on the stove until room temperature/slightly warm or it will cause the coconut oil to solidify.) In a separate bowl, combine the oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until incorporated. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts.
• Fill each well of the mini muffin tin about three-quarters full with batter. (I like to use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop for this.)
• Bake for 15 minutes or until a tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.
• Let the muffins cool in the tin for 10 minutes. (This is essential! If you try to remove them sooner, they will crumble.) Run a butter knife around each bite to loosen it, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

This post is sponsored by my longtime friends at Peapod Delivers. As always, all opinions are very obviously my own.