Zucchini Cupcakes!

A while ago, my sweet grandmother gave me a HUGE zucchini she had grown in her garden. I love zucchini but it sat in the refrigerator for a while and I didn't know what to do with it. I am an avid baker and decided that zucchini cupcakes might be a fun thing to try. So off to the internet I went. I found the recipe for Zucchini cupcakes and "the best cream cheese frosting". To be honest, this appealed to me because of the frosting. 

I started with the cupcakes. I began shredding the zucchini and as I was doing it, I realized that my zucchini was so big that there was a large amount of juice and I didn't want to use the center with all the seeds in my cupcakes. I doubled the recipe because of the large zucchini and the amount of people I was planning on feeding. Once I had the zucchini shredded I drained off some of the juice. I followed the rest of the recipe as it was listed and found that 18 minutes was the perfect cooking time. The texture is somewhere in between a

As I started making the frosting, I realized I don't have a hand mixer at my new house and started thinking of ways to mix the butter and cream cheese. I ended up putting about a cup at a time into the small attachment of my ninja blender and it came out so smooth. I used so much confectioners sugar and was worried it would come out too thick. It didn't. This IS the best cream cheese frosting ever! I put copious amounts of frosting on each cupcake. I did garnish it with the sugar-coated zucchini, but my zucchini was so wet that it didn't look the way it does in the pictures.

I took 2 of the 3 dozen cupcakes I made to work and they went fast. Everyone wanted the recipe and they held up great in the car. I left a dozen home and they were gone the next day. This recipe is fantastic!!

Zucchini Cupcakes

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp baking powder

1 med. zucchini coarsely shredded (about 1 3/4 cups)

1/3 cup Canola oil

2 large eggs lightly beaten

1 tsp imitation vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In bowl, mix flour, both sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In separate bowl, combine zucchini, oil, eggs, and vanilla.  Add this to flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Use 1/4 cup measuring cup or ice cream scooper and scoop into prepared cupcake pan.

Bake for 18-22 minutes

The BEST Cream Cheese Frosting Ever

1 package cream cheese (8 oz)

1 stick butter (8 tablespoons)

4 cups confectioners sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons imitation vanilla