Zucchini Crumb Muffins

My kids were asking for doughnuts one Saturday morning.  I made these instead and you know what?  They were just as happy!  Seriously!  Even though they had zucchini in them and the only sugar in them is in the crumb topping.  They loved them.  The muffins themselves are only sweetened with the one mashed banana so if you think you'd like something a little sweeter you could always add 1/4 cup of your favorite sweetener: brown sugar, agave, honey, sugar, maple syrup, etc.  You could also add 1/2 tsp. salt if that's what you like.  For the crumb topping I didn't really use a recipe.  I just mixed until it was nice and crumbly.  I think this is pretty close to the proportions I used.  You just want it to be crumbly.  This recipe made 24 muffins.

Zucchini Crumb Muffins

3 Tbsp. ground flax
9 Tbsp. HOT water
2 cups shredded zucchini, packed
1 ripe banana, mashed
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ginger
3 cups whole wheat flour

Crumb Topping:
4 Tbsp. Earth Balance, softened
3-4 Tbsp. flour
4 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 Tbsp. wheat germ
1 tsp. cinnamon

Whisk ground flax with HOT water and set aside.  Mix applesauce, banana, and zucchini.  Add flax mixture.  Mix well.  Add vanilla.  Combine flour, soda, baking powder and spices in separate bowl.  Stir into zucchini mixture.  Spoon batter into muffin cups.  Sprinkle a spoonful of crumb topping onto each muffin and very lightly press into muffin.  Bake at 350 F for about 30 minutes.  Muffins will be very moist but a toothpick inserted in middle should be clean when they are done.