Page 44 Zucchini-Spice Cupcakes

"Bake an unexpected alternative batch of treats using abundant seasonal zucchini from the farmstand or local market. Like their carrot counterparts, these are finished with cream cheese frosting. For a more wholesome snack, forgo the frosting and lightly dust cupcakes with confectioner's sugar instead." - Martha

I am to the point in the book where it isn't as easy to choose a cupcake that my family will enjoy by listening to the name of the treat. Picky eaters them all, the sound of things like "zucchini cupcakes" will certainly turn them off just thinking about trying it. But since I had some cousins driving in from Missouri this week, I thought at the very least they would help me polish off the cakes. But I must say, once I did my best convincing to my boys that zucchini in the muffins tastes so much like carrot cake or banana bread, they were willing to take a bite to taste-test these cupcakes. Moreover, they aactually liked them! Little pleasures in life, you know? As what seems to be habit now, I only made half a recipe thinking to myself, "Why would I need a few dozen cupcakes around the house if no one but me will eat them?" So a dozen plus I made. Naturally, the boys and my cousins managed to help out quite a bit in the chewandswallow dept.

My findings this week is surrounded about the zucchini itself. The full recipe calls for 3 cups of packed, grated zucchini or about 1 1/2 fruits. Since I was making a half recipe, I made 1 1/2 cups of finely grated squash, but to make that much I used 2 - 8" zucchini. So if my two zucchinis made 1 1/2 cups, how many zucchini would it take to make 3 cups for a full recipe? And how big are they supposed to be if 3 cups is equivalent to 1 1/2 zucchini? I was confused so when I was mixing in the zucchini to the batter, I wasn't sure if I was adding too much or not. The cupcakes are delicious and moist. So, if I included too much zucchini, you'd never know.