Zucchini Brownies
I’m too tired to be clever or witty today. Seriously guys, I’m so drained that I can barely string a cohesive sentence together – in real life or in writing. I mean, it just took me three attempts to type that last sentence so it actually made sense. Does any of this even make ANY sense at all?! Case aaaaand point.
Life: 1, Talia: 0
However! I really want to share a delicious recipe with you. Like reeeeeally really, because I just know that you’re going to love it. It’s chocolately and gooey and jam-packed with – waaait for it – VEGGIES!
No, don’t go! I promise, it’s worth it. I made you BROWNIES (did that catch your attention?! success)! Zucchini brownies, to be specific. This is hands down my favorite brownie recipe of all time in recent memory. AND get this – Peter loves them. If that isn’t indication enough that these veggie-packed treats are delicious, I don’t know what is.
These brownies have warranted sentences like, “ohmygosh these are AMAZING!” and “Tal, I NEED this recipe immediately!” and “you’re joking, right? These don’t really have zucchini in them.” So yea – they’re pretty good.
That said, I’m going to go ahead and tell you allll about them and you can just pretend that I’m being hilarious in doing so, okay? Yes? GREAT!
First off, I absolutely cannot take full credit for these. One of my favorite healthy bloggers posted this recipe awhile back, but it wasn’t until I had an intense craving last summer for zucchini in the form of baked goods (normal?) that I actually tried it out – again and again and again. I made some slight changes to the amount of sugar it calls for, but otherwise I found that the recipe didn’t need much tweaking.
They are pretty easy to make — #winning. Just combine your wet ingredients and your dry ingredients separately, then mix the two together. Fold in the zucchini and about a million chocolate chips, then bake and enjoy! easy peasy!
However, before you go running out the door to stock up on zucchini, I want to point out a couple of things that you should keep in mind when baking these brownies. The zucchini adds a lot of moisture, so you’ll notice that your batter is pretty dry after you combine the wet and dry ingredients. This is totally normal – the zucchini will add some [much needed] liquid! Here is an example of the before & after for reference:
Looks yummy, right?! …that’s sarcasm, I promise. But seriously, they taste way better than they look!
Next, let’s talk baking time and texture: I recommend 30-35 minutes, though I usually find that 30 minutes is just right for me. You may find that you need to bake them for slightly longer or slightly shorter, though it really depends on your oven. Regardless, as long as the brownies are no longer raw on the inside, you should be okay.
Once you’ve figured out what baking time works best for your oven, you can tweak it ever-so-slightly to play with the overall texture of your brownies. I find that a longer baking time yields an almost cake-like brownie, while a shorter baking time will result in a gooier, fudgier (are those even words?) brownie. I prefer the latter, so I like to pull mine out when they have just passed the ‘no longer raw’ threshold; they will continue to bake slightly once you’ve taken them out of the oven and – most importantly – I always wait for them to cool completely before slicing and enjoying.
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup whole wheat flour (see Notes for gluten-free options)
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- 1½ teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups zucchini, peeled and grated (about 2 small zucchini)
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chips
- ¼ cup mini chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees . Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, add the wet ingredients - eggs, vanilla, coconut sugar and applesauce. Stir until combined and let sit for 5-10 minutes until the coconut sugar has mostly dissolved. In the meantime, sift the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl - flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and stir until mostly combined; fold in the zucchini and dark chocolate chips. Pour the batter into your prepared pan and sprinkle the mini chocolate chips on top.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean. You may hit a chocolate chip on the way in, so you might need to test it in a couple of places. Cool completely before slicing.
- The brownies can be kept at room temperature for 2-3 days or for up to a week in the refrigerator.
Semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips can be used in place of dark chocolate chips. But be careful when adding nuts to this recipe, since the natural oils from certain nuts (especially walnuts) may alter the moisture in the recipe.
Often times I opt to use cocao powder instead of cocoa powder, since there are many health benefits derived from pure cocao. Read here for more details!
I find that a longer baking time yields an almost cake-like brownie, while a shorter baking time will result in a more fudgy brownie.
Recipe From: Texanerin Baking | Chocolate Zucchini Brownies
Don’t worry, my funny pants are just in the wash. They’ll be clean and good as new when I finally have time for my next post… in six months. By that point, I’ll be officially Mrs. Talia Bartash… stfu.
