Zucchini/Coconut Muffins with Pecans

Zucchini is one of those vegetables that is very versatile. You can eat it raw with some dip or steam it to make a side dish. How about tossing some chopped zucchini into a slow cooker along with a bunch of other veggies to make vegetarian chili? Decisions, decisions. Well, my favorite way to use zucchini is making it into bread or muffins! Since I had a bag of shredded coconut in my pantry and some chopped pecans in the freezer, I decided to put a 1/2 cup of each into the muffin batter too!! I was keeping my fingers crossed while the muffins were baking, because I wasn't quite sure how it would taste. Well, I shouldn't have worried at all - these muffins are so yummy! Who knew that zucchini, coconut and pecans would make such an awesome threesome?!?!?!?! These muffins also contain one of my other favorite "threesomes" - cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger! One thing I've learned about baking with zucchini, it is a very wet vegetable! I shredded an entire zucchini and put it into a measuring cup. I then took my fist and gently pressed the zucchini down and then turned the measuring cup upside down over the sink.  So much water came out, that it then became only a 1/2 cup! Good grief. I ended up shredding another whole zucchini and then draining that water out too. I like a moist muffin, but what if I hadn't got all that extra liquid out?? Yikes!

Ingredients

1 cup zucchini, unpeeled and shredded
  (about two medium)
1 1/2 cups white flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/2 cup sweetened coconut, shredded
1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fill a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners and set aside. In small bowl, shred and drain out the extra liquid from the zucchini, until it equals one cup. Set aside. In large bowl, put the white flour, white sugar, light brown sugar, egg, canola oil, vanilla extract, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Add the zucchini and mix well with large spoon. Mix in the coconut and pecans and combine until well incorporated. Distribute the batter evenly into the 12 paper liners. Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into one of the muffins comes out clean. Remove from oven and let the muffins cool for five minutes before removing to a wire rack to continue to cool. Enjoy!