Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (Gluten free, Paleo)

It's strange not to be getting a classroom set up this time of year. To get my classroom layout fix, I went to help my friend set up her room. She'll be teaching kindergarten, and her space is amazing! Her classroom has its own coatroom with a full length cubby for each kid, plus a bathroom. The room has lots of windows on two sides, tons of built-in storage, and TWO sinks at the back--one kid height and one regular. On top of all that, the building is air conditioned! In six years of teaching, I definitely never had it that good.

Anyway, I wanted to bring something for me and my friend to snack on while we set up her classroom, and since I was going there mid-morning, I decided muffins would be just the thing.  I went with double chocolate muffins because what I really wanted was to make cupcakes.  These are the perfect happy medium, and I snuck in a zucchini to make them extra moist and even more healthy.

A weird thing happened with these muffins.  Let me know if you have any insights about this muffin mystery: when I tried a warm muffin before leaving the house, some of the muffin stuck to the paper liner.  Not a ton, but a fair amount.  I then wrapped some muffins in tinfoil to bring with me, but left the top of the tinfoil open since the muffins were still warm.  At my friend's school, the papers peeled off the muffins with virtually no crumbs attached--completely clean.  The next morning, I expected the muffins I had left at home to do the same thing, since I assumed it was from cooling completely.  But no!  Crumb stuck on the liner again.  So--did wrapping the bottoms of my muffins in tinfoil while they were still warm make the papers come off with no crumbs?  If so, I might have to try that trick every time I make muffins or cupcakes!  Any thoughts?

Anyway, on to the recipe.  I hope these double chocolate muffins will help you strike the perfect breakfast balance.

Ingredients (adapted from Against All Grain; makes 8-10 muffins):

1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

4 large eggs

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup milk or coconut milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon coconut flour

1 tablespoon tapioca flour/tapioca starch

1/2 cup almond flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup grated zucchini (1 small to medium zucchini)

3.5 ounces dark chocolate, chopped, divided

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with paper liners.

In a large bowl, whisk together the butter and eggs for a minute or so.  Add the honey, milk or coconut milk, and vanilla and whisk to combine well.  In a separate bowl, sift together the flours, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl and mix well.  Fold in the zucchini and half the chocolate chunks.  Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, and sprinkle the tops evenly with the rest of the chocolate chunks.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and the top springs back when you poke it.  Let cool for five to ten minutes in the pan, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

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