Thursday, November 10, 2011

I.Like.Loaf.


If you're like me...

Sierra--  She loves loaf, too.


...you may occasionally find yourself asking,

'what-to-do?'

with the leftover half of zucchini
your granny gave you.



The answer-- clearly,

shred that bad boy up
and get your bake on.

Enter: Chocolate Zucchini Bread, loaf, surprise,
thing.

Delectable & moist, I promise you my friends.


Hence, today's recipe compliments of 'Joy of Baking'.


Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups shredded raw zucchini from granny
1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder*, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 cup safflower or canola oil
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

*you may opt to replace 2 tsp of the unsweetened cocoa powder with the 'secret ingredient'
I'll be incorporating further on in the directions below.



Preheat oven to 350 degrees F & grease your loaf pan.



Get started grating your zucchini.

Who knew grating could be so much fun?!

Set grated zucchini aside.


In a large bowl, measure out your flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon & allspice and set aside.


Now.

         Here's where I switch things up.

***SECRET INGREDIENT***

You may recall, way back when,
my uncontainable excitement regarding my purchase of McCormick's Cocoa Chili Blend?!

Well, I happened to be feelin' particularly adventurous this day and decided this would be the perfect recipe to add a little heat to.

Baker's Confession: I added way too much heat.

So much so, one bite of my loaf could put hair on your chest.

       .......Or burn it off.

Spicy.  Very spicy.


According to my 'newly revised' calculations, replacing 2 teaspoons of the cocoa chili blend with the unsweetened cocoa powder should make for the perfect subtle hint of warmth.
(so, 115 ml unsweetened cocoa powder & 2 tsp cocoa chili powder)

And there you have it.

Lesson learned.

The hard way.


Carrying on,

get all your dry ingredients blended together in a large bowl and set aside.



In yet another bowl (plenty of dirty dishes leftover after this recipe), use your electric mixer to thoroughly beat the oil, eggs, sugars, and vanilla extract until well blended. About 2 minutes.

Mm'yesss, a good time to get some reading under your belt...


Once well mixed, fold in the grated zucchini.

Add the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

And lastly, fold in the chocolate chips.



Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 55- 65 minutes.

Once removed from the oven, let the loaf cool on a baker's rack for 10 min and then remove from the pan.

Continue to let the loaf cool completely.


Other than the fact that my loaf was hotter than two goats in a pepper patch, it was deliciously rich and delectably moist.


I do say, it's good to spice things up every once in a while :)