Print This Post
If it is August/September, and if you have a garden, then you will need recipes for your zucchini crop.
Zucchini is one of the jokes/blessings of the summer. If you have one plant, you have a lot of zukes coming your way. If you have a few plants, you have enough for the whole neighborhood.
But it’s all good, isn’t it? Figuring out what to do with too much zucchini is a good problem to have.
Here are some suggestions:
1. Sweet Zucchini Refrigerator Pickles. No canning, no muss and fuss. A week in the refridge, and you have delicious pickles!
2. Spiced Zucchini Bread. A perfectly taste-balanced quick bread that incorporates fresh zucchini.
3. Chocolate-Coffee Zucchini Quick Bread. Did I have you at chocolate? How about coffee?
4. Portobello Vegetarian Chili of the Gods. This is a veritable veggie dump, in the best way!
5. And now come these Lemon Zucchini Cornmeal Cookies, which were a big hit at our house!
They appeared in Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food back in September 2009, but I just got around to them this summer! They’re surprisingly good, slightly different because they have no egg or baking powder/soda, so they don’t puff up wildly. They are fragrant with lemon and vanilla, the zucchini shows up charmingly in green specks, and the cornmeal gives a great texture.
The version below reflects the small adaptations I made: More vanilla, more lemon zest, sugar crystals for the top, shorter baking time.
Recipe: Lemon-Zucchini Cornmeal Cookies
Summary: A lemony cookie/biscuit flecked with zucchini sparkles as a great way to use up too much summer zucchini from the garden. Cornmeal gives them good texture.
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar (spooned and leveled)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons packed finely grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, (spooned and leveled) (can use half white whole wheat flour)
- 1/2 cup fine cornmeal
- 1 cup zucchini, grated on small holes of a box grater
- Decoration: Raw or turbinado sugar, or coarse sugar crystals
Instructions
- Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, lemon zest, and salt. Add flour and cornmeal and mix until crumbly. Add zucchini; dough will thicken.
- Drop dough by rounded tablespoons, about 2 inches apart, onto baking sheets. Using fingers, tap tops a bit flatter and then sprinkle with coarse sugar crystals. Bake until cookies are light golden brown at edges, about 15-20 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Let cool completely on wire racks.
- Makes 30-36 cookies.
Quick notes
You can see the original recipe here.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 15 minute(s)
Number of servings (yield): 15
Culinary tradition: USA (Nouveau)
My rating
Welcome to my kitchen!
At ShockD, you’ll find scrumptious, tried & true, "scary good" recipes, tips and coaching to make YOU a fabulous home cook! Don't blame me if you need a 12-step program to wean yourself away!
E-mail me: Dorothy.Reinhold@gmail.com
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Making them now. Love the flavor and love the no egg!
Ana,
Oh good, I’m glad!
Great round up of zucchini recipes!!! The cookies sound intriguing – never thought to put it in cookies – another one of those “why didn’t I think of that” moments!!!