Chocolate is a thing of beauty. It can transform anything: bread, fruit, vegetables, ants, or fingers. Chocolate is just good stuff. We should all be eating it a lot more often, especially since it helps keep us safe from the sun. And might I just say – God bless chocolate research. Amen. Keep it coming, scientists.
I’ve been gifted with zucchini several times this season – and I happily take it. I’ve loved zucchini for a long time. Our favorite way to eat it is chopped up and sautéed in a skillet with some butter and then tossed with soy sauce. But, sometimes I get tired of that – okay, so not really. I was just looking to add a little chocolate to my life. You caught me.
I went to my trusty Zucchini Bread recipe out of my Betty Crocker Cookbook, but it needed a few tweaks to fit our whole foods lifestyle. And it needed chocolate…lots of chocolate. So, I remade the recipe to fit our tastes…and I added chocolate, did I mention that?
Some people like to shred their excess zucchini and freeze it for later. When you use it, you just thaw it and squeeze the water out. My freezer is stock full right now of corn, green beans, fruit, and freezer meals so I didn’t have room for that. And besides, I needed chocolate. For this recipe, you need about 3 cups of shredded zucchini which for me was 2 good sized zucchini – some of those puppies are whoppers!
I’ll give you my secret to chocolate success. Are you ready? When mixing up the batter, take out some of the called-for flour and add the same amount of cocoa powder. This does not work if you take out MOST of the flour and replace it with cocoa powder…or so I’ve been told – from OTHER PEOPLE. *Cough*
Mix together all the wet ingredients: zucchini, sucanat (or sugar of your choice), coconut oil (melted), vanilla, and eggs. Stir well and then add the flour. Sure, you could sift the flour. But, I don’t sift flour. It’s against my religion.
Add the dry ingredients and give it a good stir to incorporate everything. It’s chocolate you know.
Divide the batter between 2, 8 inch loaf pans. And like I told you with the Banana Bread, I always grease and flour loaf pans when making quick breads. It saves me a lot of crying.
Pop it into a 350 degree oven for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes and then turn out to cool all the way on a wire rack. Do not cut while hot – it will crumble and make a big mess on the floor – which you in turn will have to declare the 5 second rule and scoop it up to eat it…because it’s chocolate and it should not be wasted. Amen. Not like I’ve ever done anything so silly in my entire life. *Cough*
And there you have it – a little more chocolate in your life. This freezes beautifully, but try to let it thaw before you dig in. You might break a tooth.
NOTE: Stacy is not held responsible for any teeth injuries – she is 100% innocent.
Chocolate Zucchini Bread
*Recipe adapted from The Betty Crocker Cookbook
- 3 cups shredded zucchini
- 1 ½ cups sucanat (or white sugar, brown sugar, turbinado, etc.)
- 2/3 cup coconut oil, melted
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 4 eggs
- 2 ½ cups white wheat flour (or ½ white, ½ whole wheat)
- ½ cup cocoa powder (or carob powder if you’re allergic to chocolate)
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 8 inch loaf pans.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine shredded zucchini, sucanat, coconut oil, vanilla, and eggs. Stir well.
- Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder. Stir until incorporated.
- Divide batter between loaf pans.
- Bake 50-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool 10 minutes in pan. Remove from pans to wire rack to cool completely.
This looks and sounds SO good – I have lots of zucc to use from my garden…just wanted to mention something I think I read on Pinterest…instead of using flour to dust your pan (if baking something dark) to avoid the white marks on the outside of the loaf use the cocoa powder to dust your pan – although in your picture I don’t see any white marks on your loaf…(was that clear or too confusing?)
Yes, I’ve done that with chocolate cake. 🙂 It’s great! The flour soaked into the shortening I used this time and didn’t show up. 🙂
Made this a couple weeks ago and LOVED IT! Made it again – and again – GONE – every crumb! We found it good the first day and even better after – it was more moist…
We are whole-food vegans so I substituted the four eggs for applesauce (1 cup) – yummmmmmm
Whole food vegans – we save a bunch of money =)
I’m very happy knowing that I have a loaf in the freezer!
I freeze my zucchini and when I use it I thaw it but I don’t squeeze the water out. It has always turned out yummy.
Interesting to note – thanks for chiming in! 🙂
I looooove chocolate chip zucchini bread, so I’m pretty sure I’ll love this too! 😉
You had me at chocolate chips….
Just an update… I did use whole wheat pastry flour with success. I would recommend leaving it in the oven closer to the 60 min mark though. It’s fabulous 🙂
My oven bakes really hot, so I have to be careful…and my mom’s oven bakes burned. It hates my guts. 🙂
Such an interesting recipe. And the preparation is not too hard. I like it, a lot. Thanks for sharing!
I’m not really into hard stuff. 😉 It takes entirely too much time. LOL
Each year I tell my husband “No, we really don’t NEED six zucchini plants!” However, I’ve never tried chocolate zucchini bread. I’m going to bake this recipe tomorrow morning into some muffin tops. Sounds delish. Want some zucchini?
I just inherited a big bag of yellow squash. 🙂
Some chocolate chips or maybe chopped nuts? I thought I was hungry before reading this! Oops – I almost did in my keyboard, thanx for the warning above.
Nooooooooooooooo chopped nuts. I’m super weird about chopped nuts in my food. LOL 🙂
Chocolate does indeed make just about anything better. I’ve gotta draw the line at insects, but with everything else, I’m in total agreement!
Dude…I would NEVER eat a chocolate insect – unless I was stranded on a desert island and needed nourishment.
This looks good! Can I use whole wheat pastry flour or bread flour since I don’t have any white wheat flour?
I haven’t used whole wheat pastry in this particular recipe, but I do use it a lot in sweet breads with great success – so I think it would be fine. 🙂
Yum! I was wanting to find a good chocolate zuchini recipe that didn’t use chocolate chips or frosting. This recipe fits the bill. Thanks for sharing, made it this afternoon and it is yummy!
Man….can I come over? I could use a piece right now. LOL
Yummy! Think I’ll have to try this out using my new mill to get the flour!
Man oh man…mills ROCK!!
Wow! I will definite have to try this… My daughter has food allergies, but this works for her and my son won’t eat anything green but loves chocolate. He doesn’t need to know there’s anything green in there..right? Right! Thanks Stacy!
You can’t see a bit of green in there! 🙂
Oh, i do love zucchini…and this is another great way to use it. I use zucchini (or any other winter squash) when I make grain-free pancakes. It’s fabulous!!! Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 🙂 🙂 🙂
Then you’re gonna LOVE tomorrow’s post. 🙂
YES! Great recipe! A friend shared this recipe with me a few years ago and it is my GO TO recipe when I want to be healthy but have a sweet tooth too!! It works like a charm and is soooo yummy!!
Love that Betty. 🙂
I am really going to have to try this one when the temperatures cool! I will try to find a decent gluten free flour alternative for it and will report back. ;o)
I do have to say, you need a disclaimer at the end of these recipes stating you’re not responsible for the keyboards shorting out due to excessive drooling! hehehe
Angie
That never occurred to me….but that would be a good disclaimer. 🙂
Oh my goodness. This sounds so delicious and your delivery of the recipe was hilarious. You ought to have cooking videos posted on YouTube.
LOL 🙂 I was thinking I would let Barry do a video of me sometime soon….but not cooking – I’m spastic. 🙂