My cousin Jeremy grew up in a small town in Vermont. It was a friendly sort of place, where people looked out for each other and kids could leave their bikes on the front porch without any fear of them disappearing. In fact, the only time people would lock their car doors in that town was during the height of the summer growing season. If you left a door unlocked, you'd return to a front seat overflowing with zucchini.

I've recently experienced a similar level of "Vermont" generosity from friends with gardens. That, coupled with the inability to resist a good farmers' market bargain has left me with an overflowing vegetable bin of zucchini. I'm now on a mission to use them up before they get bad, and so created a whole wheat zucchini walnut muffin. These suckers are so good that I'm having trouble resisting them. But since they're made with mostly healthy ingredients, I don't feel too bad.

Check out the recipe after the jump...Whole Wheat Zucchini Walnut Muffins (makes 24 muffins)

1/2 cup softened butter
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
3 eggs, beaten well
2 cups packed grated zucchini (about one medium or two small zucchini)
2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup toasted and chopped walnuts (or pecans)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour muffin tins (I admit that I use the baking spray that has the flour already in it. Not particularly environmentally friendly, but so much easier).

Cream butter and sugar together. Add in applesauce, beaten eggs, grated zucchini and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients and then stir them into the wet ingredients. Add in the nuts and stir to combine. Portion into the muffin tins and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean and the tops are nice and brown.