Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

This Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread is the bread that really should be called cake! But it’s only 200 calories a slice and there’s a cup and half of vegetables in there, so we’ll just call it bread, ok? Ok! Zucchini bread has been around for a while and there are loads of recipes out there. I’ve tried to make a version a few times and I finally landed on the most amazing version of zucchini bread…like ever! Since it’s the end of the zucchini season, my grocery store had an abundance of zucchini on sale. I ended up buying 6 of them to make a variety of recipes with them. But you should still be able to find zucchini any time of the of year in grocery stores these days, even if they are out of season.

So, this recipe is super simple to whip together. Combine the wet ingredients in a bowl and mix by hand or hand mixer or stand mixer. Then you combine the dry ingredients in another bowl. And you bring them all together. For the zucchini, I shredded it in my food processor using the thin shredding blade. You can also use a large box cheese grater. Or you can even user a spiral slicer if you have one. When you first mix in the zucchini into the bread, you might get worried that it’s too green, but it pretty much bakes into the batter really well. You can see hints of it after its baked but you cannot even taste it at all! If you prefer, you can also peel the skin of the zucchini, but I left it in there for an extra dose of fiber 😉

I was bored with the traditional chocolate bread picture…mehhhh.  So I decided to drizzle mine with melted caramel chocolate chips. I just discovered them at Target by Ghiradelli and they take this cake…errr bread…to a whole other level!

This Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread is decadent, moist and sweet – the best way to satisfy a sweet chocolate craving! Please please try it and tell me how much you love it!!

• 3/4 cup organic cane sugar
• 3 Tbsp coconut oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup applesauce
• 2 cups whole wheat white flour
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups finely shredded zucchini (about 1 medium)
• 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
• Cooking spray

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
2. Place the sugar, oil and eggs in a mixing bowl, and beat with a mixer on low speed until well-blended. You can also use a hand mixer. Add the applesauce and stir to combine.
3. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon and salt and whisk to combine.
4. Pour the bowl of dry ingredients (flour mixture) into the bowl of wet ingredients (sugar mixture) and beat with the mixer on low speed just until moist and everything is combined. Stir in the shredded zucchini and chocolate chips.
5. Transfer the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake at 350° F for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
6. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing and slicing.
7. I drizzled melted caramel chocolate chips on top for an extra sweet treat.