Chocolate Coffee Zucchini Bread

I  know it's not National Zucchini Day ... or Zucchini Bread Day, for that matter, but with the abundance of zucchini in the garden, I decided to post yet another recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Bread. The 'secret' ingredient  of this particular chocolate zucchini bread is 'Coffee'. If you've been following my daily posts, you know that coffee often enhances the flavor of chocolate, and you'll find that in this recipe! As always, your final results will only be as good as your ingredients. Use the very best cocoa, fresh oil, and good coffee.

Chocolate Coffee Zucchini Bread 

ingredients
1-1/2 cups shredded fresh zucchini (approximately 1 zucchini)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup brewed coffee, cold
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg + 1 egg white
1 tsp Madagascar vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup Flour
1/2 cup unsweetened DARK cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup Walnuts,  chopped (optional)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350° F
Lightly oil 9×5 bread pan.
Shred zucchini using fine shredding disc on food processor or hand shredder. I usually wrap the shredded zucchini in a paper towel and squeeze after shredding to get out excess moisture. Do this before measuring.
Measure 1-1/2 cups and set aside.
Beat together oil, brewed coffee, sugar, egg and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients until incorporated, then beat together until smooth. Fold in shredded zucchini and walnuts (optional). Once zucchini incorporated, pour into prepared pan and bake 55 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out dry. Remove  from oven and cool on wire rack. Remove from pan after cooling for 15 minutes.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread with Pistachios

Oddly, today is National Zucchini Bread Day. That doesn't really make any sense since it's only April 25. Maybe this refers to zucchini growing Down Under? Oh yes, you can buy zucchini all year round, but it's a summer crop in the Northern Hemisphere. So, by mid-summer if you're growing zucchini (even one plant!), you've probably run out of friends to hand zukes off to, and you're thinking of wrapping them up in a blanket, putting them a basket and leaving them on the church steps. So you might want to save this recipe for the summer.

To be fair, Zucchini Bread doesn't use up a lot of zucchini, but it's a tasty way of serving up your courgettes! Add chocolate and you're calling my name!

When I first started baking 'vegetable' breads, I used old coffee tins for baking pans, but that was a long time ago. Now, I usually make my zucchini breads in bundt pans, and I'm always amazed by the new bundt pan shapes. Of course conventional loaf pans work, too, since this is a quick bread. Most recipes say to let the zucchini bread cool before serving. I don't follow that advice since by the time the aroma has filled my kitchen for an hour, I'm ready to devour this Chocolate Zucchini Bread and often do! Since you, too, might make short shrift of this Chocolate Zucchini Bread, you'll want to make two or double the recipe, so others get a chance to taste.

A few comments on zucchini. Depending on where you live, zucchini is also called courgettes or marrows (remember Hercule Poirot throwing the marrow over the fence in the opening of Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Acroyd?) and sometimes summer squash (although in my neck of the woods summer squash is a totally different squash and a different color).

For your recipe pleasure, here are two links to recipes for different, but equally tasty Chocolate Zucchini Bread: Geeky Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread and Chcocolate Chunk Zucchini Bread. As you know, you can never have too many recipes for Chocolate Zucchini Bread to enjoy!

This Chocolate Zucchini Bread tastes great toasted with a little cream cheese or mascarpone! And, the secret ingredient: Pistachios!

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD with Pistachios!

Ingredients
3 large eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp Madagascar Vanilla
2 Tbsp sweet butter
6 Tbsp DARK Cocoa
2 cups zucchini, grated
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
dash of salt
1-1/2 tsp. cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped chocolate chunks or dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup coarsely chopped pistachios
2 tsp. flour

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°.
In large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, oil, and vanilla. Mix until well blended.
In small saucepan, melt 2 Tbsp butter, add 6 Tbsp cocoa and blend tuntil smooth. Set aside to cool.
Peel and grate zucchini. Add zucchini and cooled cocoa mixture to the large mixing bowl and blend well.
In separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to the batter. Stir only enough to blend in all the dry ingredients.
In another bowl, coat broken up chocolate chunks (or chips) with 2 tsp. flour.
Fold in flour-coated chocolate chunks and chopped pistachios to the batter.
Spoon batter into two greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pans or into a greased bundt pan.
Bake 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in middle comes out clean.
Cool in pans for 5-10 minutes.
Remove from pans and continue to cool on a wire rack.

National Zucchini Bread Day: April 25

April 25 is National Zucchini Bread Day, not to be confused with National Zucchini Day which falls on August 8 when the vegetable seems to divide and multiply and take over your vegetable garden. I love zucchini bread and what better way to celebrate than with a wonderful chocolate zucchini bread. When I first started baking 'vegetable' breads, I used to use old coffee tins for baking pans, but that was a long time ago. I usually make my zucchini breads in bundt pans now, and I'm always amazed at the new shapes out there. Of course conventional loaf pans work since it is a bread, after all. Although most recipes say to let the zucchini bread cool, I don't follow that since by the time the aroma has filled my kitchen for an hour, I'm ready. I make short shrift of chocolate zucchini bread, so if you're like me, you'll want to make two or double the recipe, so others get a chance to taste these breads.

A few comments on zucchini. They're called courgettes, marrows (remember Hercule Poirot throwing the marrow over the fence in the opening of The Murder of Roger Acroyd?) and sometimes summer squash (although in my neck of the woods summer squash is a totally different squash).

I couldn't find my recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Bread since I haven't grown zucchini in several years. The recipe must be stuck in a drawer or tucked into a cookbook somewhere, so I thought I'd see if I can find anything that vaguely resembled it. The Geeky Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipe (from What Geeks Eat.. eating and Thinking in Wisconsin) below sounds even better than mine. I'll probably make this one to celebrate National Zucchini Bread Day, and I'll try to remember to save the recipe for Zucchini day in August when the zucchinis are free or close to it.

Geeky Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Ingredients:
1 stick of butter melted (you can add more butter for a moister cake)
1 cup of dark brown sugar
1/2 cup of white sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups whole wheat white flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon (I would leave this out, but that's me)
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 cup pecans (I'll probably use walnuts)
2 medium zucchinis (about 3 cups) grated

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 large loaf pans with parchment.
Combine the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla in a bowl. Stir well until it is totally combined. Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Add the butter/egg mixture to the flour and stir gently to begin combining. Stop and add the zucchini, chocolate chips, and pecans. Continue to stir to combine all the ingredients but don’t stir too much. Fill the loaf pans and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the bread comes out clean. Start checking at 30 minutes and then add time as needed.

When they are baked let them rest in their pans for 5 minutes and then move the breads out of the pans and onto a rack. Let them cool before slicing (if you can wait). Wrapped well they should last 4-5 days. They freeze well too.

Not content with one recipe, I looked on the Internet for something a bit different. I found this Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread recipe on RecipeZaar. Now the fact that this makes 4 loaves means its a zucchini bread after my heart. It's a Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread, too, so it's different from the traditional recipes, at least for me, and it looks simple to make.

Amy's Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
6 eggs
4 cups sugar
2 cups oil
4-5 cups shredded zucchini
6 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon (I might use the cinnamon in this recipe)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 (12 ounce) package miniature chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Beat together eggs, sugar and oil. Add zucchini and remaining ingredients, mixing well. Bake in 4 well-greased loaf pans for about one hour. Freezes well, if there's any left.

I'm glad this 'holiday' falls on a Saturday this year. Lots of time to bake, but I need to shop for zucchinis first.

Eat your veggies, but cover them with chocolate!