Hey guys, I seriously considered posting a healthy recipe today. After all, it’s January and everyone always seems to want to work out and lose a few pounds this time of year. However, in my humble opinion, January is usually the most depressing month of the year, which actually makes it the worst time of year to start a new work out program and the best time of year to snuggle up under a blanket with a book or a new Netflix series (hellooo Luther!) and a whole lot of chocolate.
Are you with me on this? Good. Because this Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread deserves your full attention. It has an intense chocolate flavor and is loaded with dark chocolate chunks and chips. And there’s zucchini in there, too. So it’s kind of healthy…?
Anyway, how did I come up with this recipe? Well, I didn’t. I found it in its original form at Sally’s Baking Addiction. It has actually been on my to-bake list for quite a while – ever since Sally posted it in June – and just before Baby Boy was born, I finally found the perfect excuse to make it!
You see, about two months before I gave birth to Baby Boy I had this ambitious plan to fill my freezer with three months worth of frozen dinners. You know, homemade chili, pasta sauce, stews… things that are easy to freeze and to reheat, so there would be no need for real cooking in those hectic post-delivery days. While I was scouring the web for easy freezer meal recipes, I came across several blogs that stressed the importance of ‘breastfeeding snacks’: snacks for hungry breastfeeding moms. As I was planning on breastfeeding, I decided that I really needed to fill my freezer with snacks, too. This chocolate zucchini bread in particular.
Lucky for all of you who aren’t breastfeeding moms, this double chocolate zucchini bread is also really, really, really good if you’re just plain hungry or suffering from snack attacks 🙂
Who could resist all that chocolate?
I did change Sally’s recipe quite a bit, though. Not only did I use Dutch-processed cocoa powder instead of natural cocoa powder and ordinary yogurt instead of Greek because that’s what I had on hand, I also messed around with the amount of sugar, the amount of cocoa powder, the leaving agents and the amount of zucchini, because… well, I can’t leave recipes alone!
So, um, I guess it’s probably more accurate to say that this particular recipe for double chocolate zucchini bread was inspired by Sally’s recipe for double chocolate zucchini bread 😉
Anyway, the origins of this chocolate zucchini bread recipe are not really that important, right? What matters is that the bread tastes good. And that it does! It has an intense dark chocolate flavor, a subtle sweetness and a moist crumb. And those chocolate chips? They really take it to the next level!
Enjoy guys! If you’re a snuggler like me, check out ‘Luther’ on Netflix. Favorite character (besides Luther himself, of course): Alice! Oh, and if you happen to be working on a healthier lifestyle at the moment, take a look at these 5-minute fruit mousses. They’re packed with protein, nutrients and you can easily leave out the sugar.
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- ½ teaspoon instant coffee powder
- 1 tablespoon warm water
- 125g (or ½ cup + 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 90ml (or ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons) regular yogurt
- 60ml (or ¼ cup) sunflower oil
- 2 large eggs (about 110g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 125g (or 1 cup) all-purpose flour
- 73g (or ½ cup + 2 tablespoons) Dutch-processed cocoa powder
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- pinch of table salt
- 250g (or 8.8 ounces, about 1½ cups + 3 tablespoons) shredded zucchini
- 115g (or ½ cup + 2 tablespoons) dark chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F (standard oven setting) and place the oven rack on the lower third position of your oven (so just under the center of the oven). This prevents the top of the bread from browning too much. Line a 23x12-cm or 9x5-inch loaf pan with baking parchment. Use a little butter to help stick the parchment to the sides of the pan.
- Dissolve the coffee powder into the warm water. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together sugar, yogurt, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add the coffee and whisk to combine.
- Add flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and whisk until the mixture looks smooth.
- Using clean hands, squeeze the shredded zucchini over a bowl to get rid of excess moisture. Discard the excess moisture and, using a rubber spatula, fold the squeezed, shredded zucchini and the chocolate chips into the chocolate batter. Reserve some chocolate chips for sprinkling on top).
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, sprinkle over the reserved chocolate chips, and bake for 45-55 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean (it's okay if there's some melted chocolate on the tester from the chocolate chips. You just don't want any batter to cling to it).
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before slicing. Bread can be stored in an airtight container for up to five days. Or wrap bread (or individual slices for easy snacking!) with plastic wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.
New favorite food quote:
