This is the time of year where I'm scrambling to find as many recipes as I can to use up the garden's abundance of zucchini. Some I test out, and they end up oily, or dense, or really only passable in their use. Then there are recipes like this one, which are perfect for when you're absolutely sick of eating zucchini, and you couldn't look at another, only there are five more waiting for you to pick them. You can't actually taste the zucchini in these, or even really see them once cooked, but the zucchini helps them to be incredibly rich and moist, letting the chocolate shine through. The other thing I love about this recipe is that there's no added oil, replaced instead by applesauce, and the flour is whole wheat, which also adds to the great chewy texture. I will definitely be making these again soon.
Zucchini Chocolate Brownies, from Baltic Maid
The recipe is completely dairy-free if the chocolate chips are dairy-free.
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup applesauce
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used a mix of dutch processed and regular, so mine brownies turned out a bit darker)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
2 cups grated zucchini
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used a mix of semi-sweet and milk)
some mini chocolate chips, for sprinkling on top
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F, and grease an 8x8 or 9x9 pan..
In a bowl, combine the eggs, vanilla extract, sugar, salt, and the applesauce.
Sift the flour and the cocoa powder into another bowl. Add the baking soda, the cinnamon and the cardamom. Stir together.
Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and combine until the dry ingredients are mixed in well. Add the grated zucchini and the chocolate chips. Mix once more.
Pour the brownie batter into your prepared pan. Top with mini chocolate chips.
Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out somewhat clean. There will be batter stuck to the toothpick, you just don't want it to be thin and goopy. Thicker, with a few crumbs is better. Mine took closer to 40 minutes, but they were a bit more cake-like, rather than fudge-like.
Allow to cool completely in the pan. Enjoy!