ZUCCHINI MUFFINS

I love finding cookbooks at estate sales from restaurants and diners. I can't help but think about who went there to eat and liked the food so much that they bought a cookbook on their way out. This recipe for Zucchini Muffins came from a restaurant called The Dinner Horn Country Inn. Don't you just love that name? 

Well, imagine my surprise when I opened up the cookbook (Recipes from the Dinner Horn Country Inn by Bonnie Kellenberg and Marge Hagerty) and saw the restaurant was practically in my back yard, less than half a mile away. The beautiful house (I can't really call it a building still stands but is no longer a restaurant. (I think it has been the "home" of several businesses since the restaurant closed.) I was unable to discover when the restaurant closed but it opened in 1979 when the area was just a wooded area 15 minutes from downtown Kansas City. The two-story house is in the Pennsylvania Dutch architectural tradition. The name Dinner Horn came from Winslow Homer's 1873 painting depicting the lady of the house standing on her porch blowing a trumpet-like horn to call her men in from the fields for lunch. The restaurant had three large dining rooms and the Country Tavern and living quarters upstairs for Bonnie Kellenberg and family.

This is what Bonnie had to say about the Inn, "Our menu is based on the Pennsylvania Dutch tradition of seven sours and seven sweets at each meal. It takes about five courses to accomplish this. We have one price for dinner because if people ordered a la carte they might not get the seven sours and seven sweets." The Dutch relish cupboard, where customers help themselves, provides at least four of these sour and sweet tastes. The salad, hot muffins and choice of eight or nine entrees combined with dessert gives more than ample opportunity to complete the delicious task."  

I would have loved to have experienced this dining pleasure. Every time I drive by there now, I think about what it once was.

I was attracted to this recipe because it didn't use much sugar. I love zucchini bread and cakes but it is hard to find a recipe that doesn't call for 2 cups of sugar. I just can't (knowingly) eat something with that much sugar anymore. If I did, I would probably not eat much of it because it would be too sweet for me. I considered using half all-purpose flour and half whole wheat pastry flour, but decided to go on and use all whole wheat pastry flour. (I prefer the pastry flour because it is ground more fine and doesn't have as strong a taste as just whole wheat flour.) I like this muffin so much I think I will find myself making it instead of bread or cake.

ZUCCHINI MUFFINS

1-1/2       cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
1/2          teaspoon ground allspice
1/4          teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2          teaspoon salt
1             teaspoon baking powder
1/2          cup brown sugar
1/2          cup oil (I used canola oil)
1             beaten egg
2             tablespoons milk (I used skim milk)
1-1/2       cups grated zucchini

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 12 - cup regular sized muffin pan.

Sift the flour, spices, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

Combine sugar, oil, egg, milk, and zucchini in a large mixing bowl.

Add flour mixture and

mix only to moisten dry ingredients.

Spoon into muffin pan.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. (I baked mine for 25 but the pan I used takes a while to heat up.)

Cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Remove and finish cooling on wire rack.







You can heat a muffin in the microwave for 10 seconds to heat up if you want to enjoy it warm. Add a slab of butter and enjoy.