My Monday pick-me-up.

Muffins, like cupcakes, always seem to pop up in my house. My daughter loves to help me bake, and she's always asking to whip something up - this time, we did one of my favorites. My aunt has a great recipe for chocolate zucchini cake/bread, but I wanted to try a new one and see if it could compete with her classic. I wanted a recipe that would use nice pieces of zucchini and not too much chocolate - and I got lucky with one from AllRecipes - but of course I changed it a little :) 

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Muffins

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1/4 cup milk (I used vanilla)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup shredded zucchini (I leave the skin on & use the medium size grater)
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 

Combine the egg, oil, milk, lemon juice and vanilla - mix well. Stir into dry ingredients just until moistened. 

Fold in zucchini and chocolate chips. Fill paper-lined muffin cups two-thirds full. (I got 14 muffins from the recipe)

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

You can serve these warm or cold with milk, coffee or tea. It's awesome when the chocolate chips are still warm and you dunk it in your mug. I hope you like these - we sure do!