Aah Friday! And I have just the right thing for you to bake this weekend- chocolate zucchini bread. I love when I can eat my vegetables in baked goods. It kind of makes me feel a little less guilty eating them. I know the purists would consider it cheating but it does help when the baked good has whole wheat in it and wheat germ, besides the lovely goodness of chocolate, right?
Moist and chocolatey is what this bread is all about. You don’t taste the zucchini, but enjoy the moistness it lends to the bread. Zucchini like carrots adds moisture to quick breads, making them utterly delicious and difficult to refuse.
I have posted a zucchini lime coconut bread before and shared it recently with my friends at TooBu.org , and this time thought will make the equally delicious chocolate version. This recipe is adapted from the Double Chocolate Zucchini bread on Sally’s Baking Blog. I did not add the chocolate chips since I was out of them and even though I am sure they would have made this bread double special, I was still really happy with it.
What is everybody up to this weekend?
We have no plans yet. Well, we do plan to go for the Halal Guys opening in Dallas tomorrow. I have been waiting for them to open for ages. I have had their chicken and rice in New York and I would love if I had a local option- and get my weekly does of that white sauce! Besides that we plan to catch the new movie- Lights Out. I am pretty excited about this movie. Given that how every time I get up to get some water at night I shout V’s name even though we live in a tiny apartment and he is sleeping ten steps away, I should really not watch horror movies but I do love them. I do not appreciate the gory slasher movies though. Saw and hostel are a NO, but the creepy Conjuring types I am always game for. I love murder mysteries too and if you have any good suggestions for ones on Netflix or Amazon please do leave your suggestions in the comment.
Besides that I will be reading my book- City of Mirrors, the third in the trilogy by Justin Cronin. I have just started this book, so don’t have much to say about it. My only complaint with the book is that I read the first two so long back- there was a huge gap between each book, that I have forgotten most of what happened in the first two. I am hoping as I progress with the book more stuff comes back to me, else I might have to re read the others to enjoy this one. I loved the first two though and if you like post apocalyptic novels I would highly recommend this trilogy. You can find them on Amazon here and here.
Before leaving you with the recipe, I just have one last thought to share. I just heard today that the only company that was still making VCRs has stopped their production. Its Goodbye VCRs and with that an end to an era! I don’t know why but it makes me feel sad. I definitely love the quality that digital cds have brought to us and surely don’t miss all the time spent rewinding the tape and cursing the person before you who had rented out the movie to not have done it for you. But they were still a part of my childhood and I would love getting movies to watch with my brother from the video store. Sigh! another reminder that I am getting older and things that I grew up with, are becoming antiques. And on that “happy” note here is the recipe.
Hope you all have a lovely weekend. Do let me know if you try it and share your results with me.
- 1½ cups (225gms) finely shredded zucchini
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 1 tbsp wheat germ
- ½ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ tsp instant coffee powder
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips ( I did not put these so have listed them as optional)
- 2 large eggs
- ¼ cup grapeseed or vegetable oil
- ¼ cup plain Greek yogurt
- ½ cup (100g) coconut palm sugar (or regular granulated sugar)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- Preheat oven to 350 and place rack in lower third of oven. Grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan.
- Place the shredded zucchini on a couple paper towels to absorb some of the moisture. Use a paper towel on top as well. Don't squeeze too much of the water out. You still want some of the moisture in the zucchini for your baked good.
- In a bowl, whisk the dry ingredients and chocolate chips if using.
- In another bowl, whisk the eggs, oil, greek yogurt, sugar and vanilla together until well combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and lightly whisk until combined. Do not over mix.
- Fold in the zucchini into the batter and pour the batter in prepared baking pan.
- Bake for 45-55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Cool the bread completely in the pan on a wire rack, and slice only when it has completely cooled.
- Leftovers can stay stored in an airtight container for 5 days.
Great looking bread. Must be tasting good too. Drooling like Fido……
Hi Shumalia, I always love to hang around your space and love this moist Zucchini bread.
Hi Shibani, thank you so much 🙂