Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This summer, now that I'm retired and have more time, Michael and I have been able to go to several different Farmer’s Markets and enjoyed all the fresh fruit and vegetables that we’ve found. During one of our last trips to the local market I picked up a couple of zucchini. I’ve only baked with zucchini once, a long time ago, and was getting the urge to bake with it again. So I searched my recipes and found this one for Chocolate Zucchini Bread.

I imagine this will be the one of the last times that I’ll be able to purchase zucchini or other summer fruit and vegetables. The market was in transition….along with the zucchini, tomatoes, corn, beans and cantaloupe, they had pumpkins and some of the early fall apples. I love the fall, it’s my favorite time of year, and I also love the fall produce, but here in Ohio, there isn’t a lot to choose from. I’ll really miss the summer harvest…..

Chocolate Zucchini Bread
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3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons butter
6 tablespoons natural cocoa powder
2 cups zucchini, grated
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
2/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons flour
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla extract. Mix until well blended. In a small saucepan, melt 2 tablespoons butter, add 6 tablespoons cocoa powder and blend together until smooth. Set aside to cool. Peel and grate the zucchini. Add zucchini and cooled cocoa mixture to the large mixing bowl and blend well. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to the batter. Stir only enough to blend in all the dry ingredients. In another small bowl, coat the chocolate chips with 2 teaspoons flour. This helps prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the pan. Add the flour-coated chocolate chips to the batter. Spoon the batter into two generously greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pans. Bake for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 5-10 minutes. Remove from pans and continue to cool on a wire rack.

Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 60-70 minutes
Yield: 2 loaves

Mix together the eggs, sugar and oil.

The vanilla should have been mixed in with the other ingredients but I forgot so mixed it in next. At least I didn't forget to put it in at all.

I don't have pictures of the next step where the recipe says to melt two tablespoons of butter and then mix in the cocoa. When I did this the cocoa ended up in large clumps, not smooth at all and then it was difficult to mix in the rest of the ingredients. Next time I make this, I'm just going to add the melted butter to the liquid ingredients and the cocoa to the dry. I wouldn't think it would matter and would definitely mix in better.

Add peeled and grated zucchini and the cooled cocoa mixture to the large bow. See how awful the cocoa butter mixture did? Maybe I did something wrong but I just didn't like how it turned out.

I took a whisk to mix the dry ingredients together.

Add dry ingredients to the large bowl and stir only until blended. You don't want to overmix the batter.

In a small bowl coat the chocolate chips with the 2 teaspoons of flour. This is supposed to keep the chips from sinking to the bottom of the pan.

Add chocolate chips to the batter.

When I first started baking, I used to grease and flour my baking pans... a job that I didn't like at all. Then Bakers Joy and soon after that,  Pam Baking spray came out and I rarely do the grease and flour thing now. The baking spray makes life so much easier.....I love that stuff!

Spoon the batter into two generously greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pans. When I first put the batter together it wasn't thick but by the time I sprayed my pans (I usually do this step first) it was. Time for the oven!

 When done, remove from oven and cool in the pans for 5-10 minustes.

Remove from pans and allow to cool.

Or at least try to.... If you're like me, you have someone who, as soon as he got a whiff of chocolate while the bread was baking, kept asking if it was done yet and was hovering around me as I removed the bread from the pans. He couldn't wait for the bread to cool before digging in.

I really liked this chocolate zucchini bread...it was nice and chocolately and also, due to the zucchini, moist. The only things I didn't like, one that I've already mentioned is the mixing in of the cocoa....I'm definitely doing that differently. Another thing is I didn't like the flat bread...next time I make this, I'm going to either put all of the batter in one of the 9x5 pans or use two 8 1/2x4 loaf pans instead.