Squash, ginger, and coconut muffins

If you’re anything like me, you might occasionally be stuck with half a squash that you didn’t use up in a recipe, but you don’t feel like roasting it or puréeing it or freezing it and you just don’t know what to do with it. Enter these muffins, in which the squash is simply grated, a bit like a carrot in carrot cake. I had plenty of flesh using the hollowed-out bottom half of a medium squash, which I grated in the food processor. I made a few changes, like omitting the nuts and reducing the baking time, and we all loved this recipe! (The Little Prince was hesitant to try them, because they don’t contain chocolate, but once he had a bit of them, he immediately asked for a whole muffin.) I think I’ll actually have to go buy more squash to make another batch. They freeze well, too.

2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
10 Tbsp. lactose-free butter or margarine, melted
2/3 cup buttermilk (lactose-free milk with a splash of lemon juice)
2 tsp. grated peeled ginger (from a 2” piece)
2/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp. light brown sugar
2 cups grated peeled butternut squash (9 oz., from roughly ¼ of a large squash)
¾ unsweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 375 °F. Line a standard 12-cup muffin pan with liners. (I had a total of 14 muffins.)

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

Whisk eggs, butter, buttermilk, ginger, and 2/3 cup brown sugar in a medium bowl.

Mix egg mixture into dry ingredients with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until just combined. Mix in squash and coconut.

Divide batter among muffin cups, using about ½ cup batter per muffin. Sprinkle remaining 2 Tbsp. brown sugar on top.

Bake muffins, rotating pan halfway through, until golden brown and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Let cool in pan 5 minutes, then transfer muffins to a wire rack and let cool completely.