Zucchini plants are so lovely. They require next to no care and they just give and give. I happen to be a fan, so I'm cooking a lot of zucchini right now, and I thought I would give Zucchini Brownies a try.
I have to wonder who the first person was to put zucchini with chocolate. It seems such an unlikely combination. It works, though! I have a recipe that I love for chocolate zucchini walnut cake but this time I wanted brownies. Smaller bites. Less formal.
In addition, I wanted to cut back on the number of gadgets used and bowls to wash. I was only semi-successful with that quest.
Obviously, the zucchini had to be shredded. That meant involving the food processor. Hmm. How to use only the food processor and not the mixer? Feeling inspired, I mixed all the ingredients except the zucchini and chocolate chips in the food processor and let it run for about five minutes. It worked beautifully!
Next step, shred the zucchini. Uh oh. This was not the perfect order in which to use the food processor because I had to take out the covered-in-chocolate blade and add the shredding blade. In addition, if you're going to shred extra zucchini for later use, this isn't ideal because it will have chocolate remnants on it. So my recommendation is to shred the zucchini first, pour it into a large bowl, wipe clean with a paper towel, swap blades, and then deal with the batter.
It required an extra bowl for mixing everything anyway, so I'm not sure my plan really succeeded in reducing dirty dishes, however, the batter was gorgeous.
Originally, I thought I might add a fudgy frosting. But when it came out of the oven and we greedily tasted the warm brownies, we didn't think they needed anything else. After refrigerating them, I personally thought they were better at room temperature. If you want to dress them up, you can serve them cut large for dessert with a drizzle of chocolate (definitely for chocoholics!), or a drizzle of raspberry sauce, or a dab of whipped cream or ice cream. Or be very simple and very chic by simply dusting with powdered sugar.
Zucchini Brownies
1/2 cup (1 8-ounce stick) unsalted butter
2 cups shredded zucchini (about one 8-inch long zucchini)
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup plain sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon instant coffee or espresso
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 13x9 baking pan.
Melt the butter and set aside.
Place the shredding disk in a food processor and shred the zucchini. Place in a large bowl.
Wipe the processor bowl and switch to the sharp processing blade. Add the sugars and butter to the bowl and process about 2 minutes until combined. Add the eggs, coffee/espresso, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Process about 4 minutes. Add the cocoa and the flour. Process, scraping the sides as necessary, until thick and smooth, about 2-3 more minutes,.
Pour over the zucchini and add chocolate chips. Stir together until combined. Pour into baking pan and bake 20 minutes. Cool on a rack.
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| Who would think zucchini would go with chocolate? |
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| This is almost a dump recipe! |
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| Smooth and thick. |
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| Mix with zucchini and chocolate chips. |
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| Dress up with a drizzle of chocolate. If it's 90+ degrees, serve with ice cream! |
