Chocolate and zucchini? We know it sounds crazy, but would Chef Belinda Smith-Sullivan steer you wrong?
Photo by Iuliia Nedrygailova
MAKES 1 9-INCH LOAF
1 cup walnut or pecan halves, toasted and chopped
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
½ teaspoon instant espresso coffee granules
½ teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla)
1 cup coarsely grated zucchini (about 1 small zucchini)*
Preheat oven to 325 F. Butter and flour a 9-by-4½-inch loaf pan and set aside. Spread walnut or pecan halves in a pie plate and toast them for about 8 minutes until fragrant. Let cool. Transfer to a cutting board and coarsely chop. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, eggs, vegetable oil, fat-free yogurt, coffee granules and extract. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients along with the grated zucchini. Gently fold in the toasted walnuts and stir until batter is evenly moistened. Batter will be thick. Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake about 60–70 minutes until the loaf has risen and a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for 30 minutes before removing from pan and serving.
* Drain after grating. Zucchini tends to have a lot of excess moisture. Therefore, after grating zucchini, place in a colander and allow to drain before adding to your recipes. Alternately, after grating, you can place in a clean kitchen towel and squeeze out the excess moisture.
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