cocoa zucchini bread
turning ovens on, stretching before exercise, vroom vroom
Okay everybody! Are you ready? Please keep your appendages inside the vehicle at all times - we’re gonna go fast.
The need for speed is simple. It’s finally starting to cool off! The ovens are clicking back on, I’m no longer passing away at the thought of baking something for an hour, and I’m craving…..apples. I’m craving warm cornbread and chili (with an offensive amount of sour cream). I want crackly cookies and chai and sourdough fresh from the oven. Alas, we can’t get ahead of ourselves. It’s….barely starting to cool off. Any attempt to wear a sweater in the morning is met with a sticky afternoon. Boots are staring at me from the corner of my closet but I cannot put them on for fear of my foot temperature. It’s an uncomfortable transition.
Whats not uncomfortable about this time is the delightful coinciding of zucchini season and baking season. If you’ve ever grown your own zucchinis, now is about the time you’re starting to really aggressively pass them off to your neighbors - leaving them on porches if they’re not home. My sister and I used to do pretend surgery on the zucchinis that were too big to eat. To each their own.
For us, we’re going to make zucchini bread. I’m a big proponent of plain zucchini bread - zero frills - but the boy likes chocolate, so cocoa zucchini bread it is.
This loaf is super simple, midnight dark with chocolate, and a good way to say “hey, I am eating my vegetables” on a day that you may have forgotten to eat a vegetable. It happens to the best of us.
cocoa zucchini bread
makes one 9x5 loaf
adapted from the NYT
Nonstick cooking spray
2 large eggs
1½ cups/330 grams packed light brown sugar
¾ cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon instant espresso or coffee
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 cups/280 grams lightly packed coarsely grated zucchini (from about 1 large or 2 small zucchini)
1¾ cups/223 grams all-purpose flour
⅔ cup/63 grams unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup/173 grams bittersweet chocolate chips
Coarse sugar, for topping
directions
Preheat oven to 325F. Grease and line a 9x5 inch loaf pan with a piece of parchment, with the ends hanging over the long sides to create a sling of sorts.
Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, brown sugar, canola oil, vanilla, ground espresso and salt until smooth and glossy. Add grated zucchini and stir to combine.
Sift prepared dry ingredients into your bowl with the zucchini mixture. You can do this by just putting a fine mesh sieve over the bowl and pouring the dry ingredients through it. You can encourage them through by stirring with a whisk or a spoon. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet. Stir in all but a handful of the chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Top with the handful of chocolate chips (if you forgot to set some aside, just top with more), and sprinkle with a nice coat of coarse sugar.
Bake until the loaf puffs and sets a bit, and a skewer inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Alternatively, the temperature should be at 200F in all spots - but especially right under the dome of the loaf. This takes anywhere from 55-75 minutes.
Let cool completely before removing from the pan, slicing, and serving.
side notes
Turns out, I have horrible shin splints. Too much running, too fast. There are two worst things about this - the first is that this is one of the first times in my life I’ve actually been loving running and sticking with it. The last half marathon I ran was more of a….untrained event. This was going to be a confident stab at the distance. The second worst thing? My whole life, I thought people were sort of…making up shin splints to get out of gym class? The concepts of your shins hurting enough to stop working out felt ridiculous. This side note is my formal apology to absolutely everyone I’ve thought that about. This hurts!
I’m back to doing pilates and hot yoga and living my best girlypop life. Not a bad trade! Anyway. This whole thing is to say stretch after you exercise, and keep your calves strong. And go to Mindy’s.
