Dining on a Dime: Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Sorry for the delay in posting here lately! I've been working a lot of closing shifts and have just been exhausted. But, we slept until nearly 12:30 this afternoon and now I'm back on track! Anyway, getting on with the recipe!

This recipe is super yummy! I had never made any sort of zucchini bread or anything like that before, so I wasn't super sure about it, but its wonderful... moist and very chocolatey!

Before I jump in, let me just say, for all the non-bakers out there, this is not like my other recipes. You will actually need to measure your ingredients carefully. Baking is far more precise.

Here is the blog post I got my recipe from.

Moving on, you will need:

• 1 2/3 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used extra light olive oil, it has all of the health benefits of olive oil, but with a lighter flavor)
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups shredded zucchini (one medium zucchini made more than enough for this recipe)
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pre-heat your oven to 350° F, then grease and flour a loaf pan.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and the baking soda.

In a separate large bowl mix together the eggs, oil, brown sugar, honey and vanilla. Tip: spray your measuring cup with a little cooking spray before you put in the honey. It will slide right out!

 Next, you'll gradually mix the flour mixture into the egg mixture. The batter will be very thick. One everything is incorporated, fold in the zucchini and the chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into your loaf pan and place it in the pre-heated oven for 60 to 75 minutes.

Once you remove the pan from the oven, allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes before trying to remove the bread. I had to run a knife along the edges of the pan and it fell right out.

You are supposed to let the bread cool completely before slicing it. I am far too impatient for that. I let it cool a little, but then went ahead and sliced it while it was still a little warm. Mmmmmm. So good.

It will be wonderful for breakfast in the morning. It's tasty on its own, but is also good with a little butter or margarine. I know it sounds a little weird, but we always used to do that on chocolate cake as kids and its still my favorite way to have it. This bread is so close to cake that it tastes awesome that way.