Summer Squash Streusel Muffins

summer squash streusel muffins.jpg

My oldest daughter has been generously sharing with me the bounty of her garden, especially the abundant zucchini and summer squash. I have a couple zucchini dishes I regularly count on — Chocolate Zucchini Bread and Zucchini Cobbler in particular — but hadn't yet found a pleasing way to prepare summer squash as a sweet treat. (My husband eats squash only when hidden in baked goods... so the need for such was real.) I recently came across a summer squash bread that came close to what I sought. Converting it to muffins and topping with streusel resulted in all that I'd hoped for: a more-healthy-than-some-treats afterschool snack for grandkids or a tasty breakfast goodie for grownups.

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups peeled, seeded, grated summer squash (one medium squash should be enough)

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Streusel topping (recipe below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously spray 12-cup muffin pan with non-stick spray. (If using paper liners, spray those, too, as well as the pan between cups to prevent streusel from sticking.)

In large bowl, combine first six ingredients well by hand. Add flour, salt, and baking powder and mix by hand until everything's moistened and mixed nicely. Fill muffin cups two-thirds full. Sprinkle tops of muffins with streusel, evenly dividing the full amount of between muffins.

Bake 25 minutes. Remove from oven and cool in pan but first immediately swipe a butter knife around each muffin to ensure easy release from the pan once cooled as streusel hardens a bit.

Makes 12 muffins.

Streusel topping

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon cold butter

In small bowl, use a fork to mix ingredients til crumbly, squishing and softening butter a bit as you mix.