Summer brings an abundance of zucchini. There were 2 zucchinis (thanks to Fresh Fork Market) in my refrigerator crisper drawer, staring at me. Having already made two loaves of zucchini bread, I decided to adapt my zucchini bread recipe and add chocolate. You can't go wrong with chocolate, right?
For me, most muffins call for chocolate chips or nuts. I like the contrasting textures of the moist crumb and the crunch of chocolate chips or nuts together. So, I searched my pantry high and low for chocolate chips... and unfortunately none turned up. And I already used up my last 2 bars of Green & Black dark chocolate for my fleur de sel chocolate chip cookies yesterday. Really??? No chocolate in this household???
And then I found a box of dark chocolate coated marzipan. It was a gift to us, but neither of us are actually huge fans of marzipan. So in my determined-to-have-chocolate state, I decided to cut up all these chocolate marzipan bars and use the chocolate coating. I initially felt bad about tossing the marzipan interior (I hate throwing food away - that's the Filipino in me), but...voila, I had chocolate "chips"! After this long process, I ended up with about 3/4 cup of chocolate pieces. And I had a little shy of half a cup of walnuts. Score! (But I suggest you just grab a bag of chocolate chips while you are at the store.)
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (makes 23-24 muffins)
Well, the cooling process didn't quite happen for me. I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into one of these.
See how incredibly moist and chocolate-y they are?
Not that zucchinis are a bad thing, but you can't even detect them in here. Surely a great way to use up zucchini. I think my next zucchini experiment will be to make them into latkes.
PS: As a side note, my wire rack (middle ground of photo) looks like it's glowing!
For me, most muffins call for chocolate chips or nuts. I like the contrasting textures of the moist crumb and the crunch of chocolate chips or nuts together. So, I searched my pantry high and low for chocolate chips... and unfortunately none turned up. And I already used up my last 2 bars of Green & Black dark chocolate for my fleur de sel chocolate chip cookies yesterday. Really??? No chocolate in this household???
And then I found a box of dark chocolate coated marzipan. It was a gift to us, but neither of us are actually huge fans of marzipan. So in my determined-to-have-chocolate state, I decided to cut up all these chocolate marzipan bars and use the chocolate coating. I initially felt bad about tossing the marzipan interior (I hate throwing food away - that's the Filipino in me), but...voila, I had chocolate "chips"! After this long process, I ended up with about 3/4 cup of chocolate pieces. And I had a little shy of half a cup of walnuts. Score! (But I suggest you just grab a bag of chocolate chips while you are at the store.)
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (makes 23-24 muffins)
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 tablespoon instant coffee powder
- 1 teaspoon allspice
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 1/2 cups turbinado sugar (or regular brown sugar)
- 3/4 cup virgin coconut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 3 tablespoons ground flaxseed, mixed with 6 tablespoons water (or 3 eggs)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups grated zucchini (grated in a food processor)
- 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips, nuts, or a combination
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 12-cup muffin tins with paper muffin liners, or grease and flour the muffin tins. I actually just used one muffin tin and just baked them in two batches (Technically I think that once the wet and dry ingredients are mixed together, the batter has to be baked without delay... but I figured this wasn't such a delicate recipe and the second batch can wait a half hour or so before going into the oven. Anyway...)
- In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, instant coffee, allspice, and cinnamon. I now mix a little bit of coffee into almost any chocolate recipe. Not that you actually taste the coffee, but it just adds even more depth of flavor. Coffee makes chocolate taste better! (Thanks, Ina Garten)
- Measure out about a half cup of the flour mixture and place in a bowl with the chocolate chips or nuts. Mix together to coat the chocolate chips/nuts. This process (I think the technical term is dredging) prevents the chocolate chips/nuts from sinking to the bottom of the muffins as they bake.
- In a large bowl, mix the sugar, oil, ground flaxseed mixture (or eggs), vanilla, and grated zucchini. As a side note, for those of you who are wary of coconut oil... you actually don't detect the coconut flavor in here. And virgin, cold-pressed, unrefined coconut oil is actually good for you!
- Mix the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, just until combined (do not overmix!). Fold in the chocolate chips/nuts and the remaining flour mixture.
- Using an ice cream scoop or measuring cup, divide the batter into the muffin cups (fill about 2/3 of the way up in each muffin cup). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a small knife/cake tester/toothpick inserted into the center of the muffin comes out without any liquid batter sticking to it (moist/dry crumbs are ok).
- Cool in the muffin pan for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Well, the cooling process didn't quite happen for me. I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into one of these.
See how incredibly moist and chocolate-y they are?
Not that zucchinis are a bad thing, but you can't even detect them in here. Surely a great way to use up zucchini. I think my next zucchini experiment will be to make them into latkes.
PS: As a side note, my wire rack (middle ground of photo) looks like it's glowing!
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