DOUBLE CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD with Pistachios: National Zucchini Bread Day!

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

Unfortunately 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, and my beans now come in recyclable paper bags. I usually make my zucchini breads in Bundt pans. 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, may make short shrift of this Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread with Pistachios, you'll want to make two, so double the recipe, if you plan to share.

A few comments on zucchini. Depending on where you live, zucchini may be called courgettes or marrows (remember Hercule Poirot throwing the marrow over the fence in the opening of Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) 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's a link to recipes for different, but equally tasty Chocolate Zucchini Bread: Geeky Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread and Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Bread. As you know, you can never have too many recipes for Chocolate Zucchini Bread!

This Double 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 pure Vanilla
2 Tbsp unsalted 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 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 until 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 batter. Stir only enough to blend in all 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 batter.
Spoon batter into two greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pans or into 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 wire rack.

KAHLUA CHOCOLATE CHIP ZUCCHINI BREAD: National Zucchini Bread Day

Zucchini is one of those vegetables that seems to proliferate when you're not looking. If you don't check under the leaves every day, you'll find yourself with a gigantic marrow! And that not withstanding, even the small ones seem to multiply overnight. Oddly today's holiday, National Zucchini Bread Day, is not during the growing season, but there's lots of zucchini in the market, so you can still make this to celebrate. I love this recipe for Kahlua Zucchini Chocolate Chip Bread.

Because of the addition of Kahlua, this is a treat for adults. And, if you're so inclined, you can make your own Kahlua. It will have to sit for a month, so if you want to make this Kahlua Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread today, use store bought Kahlua. Scroll down for the Homemade Kahlua recipe.

Kahlua Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
This recipe makes one loaf, but it can easily be doubled. You can also substitute oil for the butter.  I love quick breads. They're fast and easy, and you only use one bowl!

Ingredients
2 cups flour (all-purpose, but you can use 1 cup whole wheat and 1 cup all purpose)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup Kahlua
1 cup shredded zucchini
3 ounces chocolate chips (or more)

Directions
In medium bowl, sift flour with soda and salt. Set aside.
In large bowl of electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then Kahlua. (Don't worry if it seems curdled). Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed until blended. Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips to distribute evenly.
Pour into greased and floured 8-1/2 × 4 inch loaf pan.
Bake at 350 degrees F, about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until wood pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool in pan 10 minutes.
Turn out onto wire rack and cool completely.

***

Homemade Kahlua

Ingredients
4 cups water
4 cups sugar
2 ounces instant coffee
1 vanilla bean
Fifth of vodka or bourbon

Directions
Bring 4 cups water to a boil. Add the 4 cups sugar and cook until dissolved. Add the instant coffee. Simmer slowly - do not boil!
Add vanilla bean and 1/5 vodka or bourbon.
Bottle and cap. Leave for a month or more!

CHOCOLATE COFFEE ZUCCHINI BREAD: National Zucchini Bread Day

Today is National Zucchini Bread Day, but I have no zucchini in the garden. Luckily for me, it's available in several of the markets (I live in California where zucchini is a year-round crop).  If you don't find any, save this recipe for the summer when your Victory Garden is filled with zucchini!

Zucchini Breadmakes a good change from the banana bread everyone is making while Sheltered-in-Place.  The 'secret' ingredient in 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 happens 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 pure 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 is 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: National Zucchini Bread Day

Oddly, today is National Zucchini Bread Day. That doesn't really make any sense since it's only April 25 and my zucchini hasn't even started to bloom. Maybe this holiday refers to zucchini growing Down Under? Of course you can buy zucchini in the market all year round, but it's a summer crop in the Northern Hemisphere. By mid-summer here 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 your zucchini up in a blanket, putting them in a basket and leaving them on the church steps, so you might want to save this recipe for the summer.

Unfortunately 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, and my beans now come in recyclable paper bags. I usually make my zucchini breads in Bundt pans. 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, may make short shrift of this Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread with Pistachios, you'll want to make two, so double the recipe, if you plan to share.

A few comments on zucchini. Depending on where you live, zucchini may be called courgettes or marrows (remember Hercule Poirot throwing the marrow over the fence in the opening of Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd) 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's a link to recipes for different, but equally tasty Chocolate Zucchini Bread: Geeky Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread and Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Bread. As you know, you can never have too many recipes for Chocolate Zucchini Bread!

This Double 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 unsalted 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 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 until 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 wire rack.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

April 25 is National Zucchini Bread Day, not to be confused with National Zucchini Day which falls on August 8, the time of year when zucchini seem to multiply and grow overnight and take over the vegetable garden. You can find zucchini in the market now, although depending on where you live it might put the cabash on being a locavore. Or, you can save this recipe and plant seeds now! By August 8, you'll have an abundant harvest.

This is the eighth time National Zucchini Bread Day has rolled around since I started blogging here at DyingforChocolate.com. In 2009 I posted recipes for Geeky Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread (fabulous!) and Amy's Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread(very good), as well as some zucchini lore and links to other Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipes. Last year I posted my go-to recipe for Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Bread that I adapted from an old Sunset Magazine. Last summer I posted one of my favorite recipes for Chocolate Zucchini Bread with Pistachios. Love the green and green!

So today, I decided to step a bit out of the box of the holiday and post a simple easy recipe for Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins. O.K. Not exactly Zucchini Bread, but who doesn't love a good muffin?

Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Makes 18 muffins

Ingredients 
1/3 cup boiling water
2 cups shredded zucchini
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup DARK cocoa
3/4 cup sugar
1-1/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup canola oil
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup dark chocolate (65-75% cacao), chopped into chunks (or chocolate chips)

Directions 
Preheat oven to 350.
In large bowl, pour boiling water over zucchini.
Add other ingredients (except chocolate chunks) and stir until just combined.
Fold in chocolate chunks.
Line muffin tins with paper muffin cups (or grease muffin tin)
Using 1/4 cup measure, pour batter into cups.
Bake for 30 minutes.

How easy is that?

White Chocolate Walnut Zucchini Bread

April 25 is National Zucchini Bread Day, not to be confused with National Zucchini Day which falls on August 8, the time of year when zucchini seem to multiply and grow overnight and take over the vegetable garden. You can find zucchinis in the market now, although depending on where you live it might put the cabash on being a locavore.

This is the third time National Zucchini Bread Day has rolled around since I started blogging here at DyingforChocolate.com. In 2009 I posted recipes for Geeky Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread (fabulous!) and Amy's Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread(very good), as well as some zucchini lore and links to other Chocolate Zucchini Bread recipes. Last year I posted my go-to recipe for Chocolate Chunk Zucchini Bread that I adapted from an old Sunset Magazine.

This year I thought I might step outside the box and post a recipe for White Chocolate Walnut Zucchini bread. O.K. white chocolate isn't really chocolate, but you can use white chocolate chips in place of broken up chocolate or chocolate chips in last year's recipe, or try this recipe adapted from Danette Randall in last summer's Boulder Weekly. Walnuts always add a nice crunch to zucchini breads. And, if you're planning to make one loaf, why not two and share the wealth? As if the first loaf won't be eaten fresh out of the oven.

You can never have too many Zucchini Bread recipes!

White Chocolate Walnut Zucchini Bread

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 tsp. Madagascar vanilla
2 cups shredded zucchini (2 medium-large)
1 cup white chocolate chips or white chocolate broken into smallish chunks
1 cup roughly chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan. Sift together flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and baking powder in small bowl. Set aside.
In large bowl, beat eggs until light. Add in brown sugar, oil and vanilla and mix well. Fold in zucchini, white chocolate and walnuts.
Stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix until well-combined. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool.

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!