Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

My wagon has been dragging this week. It must have been the dreary weather we had earlier in the week that has sapped my energy and made me so lethargic.

Time for some chocolate to perk things up a little!

I didn't want a layer cake; didn't feel like cookies. I wasn't sure what I wanted, only what I didn't. I saw down with a cookbook that I haven't used yet, The Amish Cook, Recollections and Recipes from an Old Order Amish Family by Elizabeth Coblentz with Kevin Williams. I flipped to the index, went to chocolate, and of the nine chocolate recipes listed, these zucchini brownies caught my eye. Ordinarily I'd give a recipe like this a quick pass as I can't imagine a vegetable with chocolate, but I had zucchini left over from my wheat germ and zucchini bread, so why not give it a try?

Oh my goodness! If you like moist chocolate cake, you'll love this. No way, no how can you taste the zucchini, but the quality it imparts is it's superb moistness, without being what I would term fudgey.

The directions call for the batter to be baked in a 10" x 15" baking sheet, (which is why I surmise this recipe is called a brownie) but I don't have one that size, so I baked the batter in two 8" x 8" baking pans, which made two small cakes. I like the result so much, I'll do it this way again, and freeze the other small cake for a future use. Perfect for me and Ole Sweetie-Pi.

Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

4 eggs
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup chopped nuts

Shred the zucchini and set aside. Generously grease a 10" x 15" jelly roll pan (or use a baking dish and watch for doneness)

In a large mixing bowl combine the eggs, oil and sugar; beat well.

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and cocoa.

Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir just to combine. Add the vanilla, zucchini and nuts to the batter and mix thoroughly. The batter will be thick.

Spread the batter into your jelly roll pan (or baking dish). Bake for 30 minutes or until done (a toothpick poked in the center will come out clean).

Cool. Frost with vanilla frosting. I used my favorite butter cream.

So good! Simple and delicious!

Wheat Germ Zucchini Bread

Many of my fellow bloggers are posting about healthy food choices and healthier cooking. I won't say I've succumbed to peer pressure, but let's say this is a nod to a healthier quick bread recipe.

My grandmother was really big on healthy cooking. She used to subscribe to magazines about organic gardening and bought any number of cookbooks for heart healthy recipes, saving your eyesight, healthy brain, and just about every other organ, I think.

One of the things I remember about her is that she always had wheat germ in her refrigerator. What I don't remember is how she used it. I bought it, then discovered I didn't know what to do with it except sprinkle it on yogurt (and I'm almost positive my grandmother never ate yogurt in her entire life; it would've been considered "foreigner" food and that would have been the end of that).

Anyway, so I've had this jar of wheat germ in my fridge for longer than I want to admit. I was reading my Best Recipes from the Backs of Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Jars cookbook when this recipe leaped out at me. Ah ha!

This bread is interesting. Nice mild flavor (unlike my other zucchini bread recipe which has an assertive cinnamon flavor). This bread also has texture, kind of crumbly, but not so much that you can't spread softened butter on it. I like it. I feel righteous. I like that, too! I'm pretty sure that I can now run faster and jump higher than I could before. I'm not sure why I want to do that.

Wheat Germ Zucchini Bread

Preheat oven to 350F for metal baking pans; 325F for glass pans.
Grease and flour two 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" x 2 1/2" loaf pans.

1 1/4 cups wheat germ, regular (I presume they mean not the honey flavored)
3 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2/3 cup cooking oil
3 cups (about 3 medium-sized) zucchini, grated

In a medium bowl, combine the wheat germ, flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nuts.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs until light colored and fluffy. Add the sugar, vanilla and oil; beat well.

Stir in the zucchini.

Gradually stir in the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, until just combined. Divide the batter between the two pans. Place in preheated oven.

Bake for about 1 hour or until a pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 to 10 minutes before turning out onto a rack to finish cooling.