Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins with Cinnamon Crumble

These lighter Whole Wheat Zucchini Muffins come together in approximately 40 minutes and are topped with a scrumptious cinnamon crumble. The perfect grab-and-go breakfast!

Since it’s officially spring, I’d say it’s about time for everything ZUCCHINI, including these whole wheat zucchini muffins.

…with cinnamon crumble. You cannot forget the cinnamon crumble. But, we’ll get to that in a moment. First, I want to talk about minimalism, or in my case accidental minimalism. 

So we all know it’s a good habit to clean out our closets a couple times a year. You know, give away clothes that you no longer wear and/or need. This is something my mom made my brother and I do every year growing up, and it’s something I’ve continued to do throughout my adult life. 

The other day I was perusing through my closet—most likely looking for a shirt to wear in one of my food photos (ya know, the ones that I’m in. Don’t think that’s what I actually wear when I’m baking)—when I realized that I don’t own much clothing. Later that day I asked Miguel when the last time we went shopping was and he noted that it was last May before our bachelor and bachelorette parties (editor’s note: I actually bought two shirts and a skirt while we were in Italy in July). The strange thing is that it hasn’t been intentional whatsoever. I was in Target the other day, I decided to try a few things on, and with each and every item I asked myself “do I need this?” Obviously the answer was “no”, so I put the items back.

I think what I’ve learned is that it’s important to prioritize needs vs. wants. For me, the “needs” tend to be food for recipe testing and food props for photography. I don’t really need clothing, well, ever, unless I’m attending a special event or something. I’m not a true minimalist and would never claim to be—I have my share of clutter—but in regards to shopping, my urge to buy stuff for the sake of owning stuff or because I think something is “cute” (anyone else overuse this word?) has diminished drastically. 

I’ll admit that I imagine I might feel differently if I worked an office job and had to look nice every day, which I’ve never, ever done. Even when I worked 9-5, both places where I worked allowed me to wear jeans, which was nice. 

I don’t know where I’m going with this other than to say that I kind of enjoy not owning too much stuff—something about it makes me feel lighter. With that said, I could really use a new pair of shorts as it gets warmer, especially considering I’ve been rocking the same pair for the past three years… 

And now for the smooth transition into MUFFINS. It’s never a smooth transition, but here goes. 

Zucchini bread it all the rage, so why can’t zucchini muffins be all the rage, too? They’re easier to grab-n-go in the mornings and they taste just the same. Well, these whole wheat zucchini muffins are a little better honestly because they’re topped with CINNAMON CRUMBLE aka butter, sugar and cinnamon. Done and done, am I right? The cinnamon crumble absolutely takes these up a notch in terms of flavor and the yum factor (<—what??), but if you’re trying to keep these on the lighter side then I’d suggest omitting the crumble OR halving it!