I’m pretty sure that I’m letting my reluctant Northern California hippie flag fly w/ this recipe, but I would never steer you wrong!

❤︎

If you’ve never made zucchini bread or muffins before, this is one of those recipes you really must try. Even if you have eaten and enjoyed regular zucchini loaves, the chocolate version is even more moist & delicious, and I’m sincerely convinced of that from the bottom of my heart. That being said, if I hadn’t grown up in Hippietown, USA, I’m almost positive I wouldn’t make a recipe called chocolate + zucchini anything, so I can understand if you’re having a firm case of baker’s reluctance here.

The first time I told Mr. Scout that I was making him something yummy with both chocolate and zucchini in it, the eye roll was audible. I would like to say he was a convert after trying its sensational soft texture and not~too~sweet chocolatey flavor—without so much as a hint of its zucchini~filled good~for~you~ness—but to be honest, he still hesitates when I hand him a slice. However, I assure you it’s only because his brain has trained him to be skeptical of desserts containing squash, as he always eats it up in just a few bites.

Okay, I’ve said enough about this delicious oddity, and you either believe me or you don’t. So with no further ado, I present:

Scout’s Chocolate Zucchini Bread:

• 1 medium zucchini, shredded (roughly 175 grams)
• 200 grams sugar
• 85 grams neutral oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 160 grams all-purpose flour
• 25 grams cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• ~50 ml. milk (only if needed)

0. Before you do anything, shred the green gourd and set ~175 grams of zucchini aside. If you want to hide the vegetables from skeptical children (or adults for that matter), you can peel the zucchini first. However, I usually just wash the suckers, then shred them with skin & everything, as you can’t really taste the difference…and why deprive yourself of the extra fiber and vitamins? You’re already eating zucchini bread, yo.

1. Preheat your oven to 160°C (or 325°F if that’s how you swing) and then grease and flour one loaf pan, then set that aside too. My pan measures 8 x 18 cm on the bottom (~3 x 7″), but a little bigger or smaller should be okay…just not too much smaller, as this recipe fits perfectly into my loaf pan, and you don’t want it to overflow. Alternatively, you could be all fancy~like, and use a cake pan. Either way, we still want to butter up (or pan spray) the thing, then put some flour in it, tilting it about until it’s fully coated, and tapping out any extra flour. As I said, just set that aside until we need it.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the 200 grams of sugar, the 85 grams of neutral vegetable oil (like canola or rice bran or whatnot, but not like olive oil!), 2 eggs, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until everything is nicely combined.

3. Stir in the shredded zucchini, mixing until the shreds are evenly coated and distributed.

4. Measure out the 160 grams of all-purpose flour, the 25 grams of cocoa powder, the teaspoon each of baking powder and baking soda, and the one half teaspoon of salt.

I usually set my sifter on top of my scale with a paper towel beneath it, and weigh everything directly into it. It saves the extra dish of weighing everything into another bowl, then just dumping it into a sifter, and it’s also faster…as long as I haven’t overestimated how much my sifter will hold.

5. Sift the dry ingredients into the zucchini mixture, mixing between a couple / few additions. You don’t have to worry too much about over-mixing this batter, but don’t go bonkers, okay?

6. When everything is combined, it should be a fairly thick batter, but still pourable. Think a bit thicker than pancake batter. But with zucchini in it. Check it out:

Anyway, if the batter is too thick, you can drizzle in up to 50 ml of milk, a little bit at a time, only adding just as much as needed, because we don’t want chocolate zucchini soup here. Eeew. It really depends upon how moist the shredded zucchini is, as sometimes I need to add a little bit of milk before baking, but usually I don’t add any at all.

7. When you’re happy with your courgette~based life choices, pour the batter into the prepared pan, set it on a baking sheet, and put it in the oven at a fairly low position. The higher shelves tend to be hotter, which can overcook the top if it’s in the oven too long. And considering how wet and dense our batter is, this is going to take a while.

Baking time will depend wholly upon your pan size—you can even make cupcakes if you feel like it!—but will range from roughly 25 to 60+ minutes. For my particular loaf pan, I initially plopped it into the oven for twenty minutes, and then checked in on it. It was still quite raw at that point, but I have a fan~forced oven, and that can change very quickly, so I set a timer and checked it every 10 minutes until I was satisfied that it was done: first, it was boingy~boingy, and second, a wooden skewer inserted in the center came out cleanly. Meeting those criteria took my pan about 50 minutes.

8. Remove the pan from the oven, and set it somewhere to cool until it’s still warm, but you can easily handle it without being burned. If needed (my loaves tend to shrink a wee bit away from the sides as they cool) you can run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen in, and then carefully tip it out, then put it back right-side-up to finish cooling on a rack or a plate.

Bam です! You’ve just made chocolate zucchini bread! I bet you never expected to say those words!

When your creation is completely cooled, you can slice it about 2 to 3 cm thick (that’s about ½” to ¾” in American). You can also dust it with powdered sugar beforehand if you’re making it pretty for your blog, or to yummy it up a bit, but it’s your choice. Honestly, I don’t usually bother, but it was quite tasty when I did it this time for photos!

That’s all there is to it! Store the chocolate zucchini bread on a countertop, loosely covered with a clean tea towel for up to three days…if it lasts that long!

Now go forth and release your inner hippie! Peace! Mwah!