Chocolate and Zucchini Bread

Moist, delicious chocolate bread with zucchini…yes, you read it right. A perfect for your breakfast or for that anytime chocolate craving, Simply enjoy with your favorite preserve or peanut butter. Chocolate does make things better isn’t it!!

It has been quite a while since I have written a blog post. Well last 2 months have been very tough for me, I lost the hero of my life “My Dad”. Miss him so much…how much I wish he could come back to us, we will never see him again, I just pray to God to just keep him happy wherever he is. I know you are with me and watching me all the time. He would always try to inculcate healthy eating habits when we were small and as usual like all other kids, my sisters and me would get irritated by all he would do. Now I miss all that papa, you will never come back to tell me eat this eat that, this is good for you and that is not. Over the last 2 months I simply lost interest in kitchen forget about blogging but VK had been my pillar of strength throughout. He is the one who encouraged me to get my lens out and do what I am good at.

This loss in my life has awakened me to focus on healthy eating which I believe should be done at an early age, isn’t it?? Well looking at our breakfast eating habit, I think we are not doing that bad. Fried, paranthas laden in ghee and butter are a strict no no in my house, instead we enjoy our eggs, cereals, oats, Idlis, toast…yes at times we do indulge in poha or maybe upma which has considerable amount of oil. Taking about breakfast I wanted to bake a loaf since a long time but was always hesitant in doing so. After coming from school in the evening Athena & Arnav wanted to something chocolate, it was then I decided to bake a chocolate loaf. Hey did I share VK gifted me a beautiful baking accessories from Lake Land, they are on an expensive side but I am simply in love with them. Coming back to the bread, there was zucchini sitting in my refrigerator, started for looking for recipes of loaf using chocolate and zucchini.

My day being at 5 am in morning with hardly any time to experiment or bake, got to pack up tiffin boxes for all and VK leaves early for work, so the breakfast must be served by 7 – 7:15 am. With this loaf in mind our morning breakfast was decided, did some late night baking which I quite enjoy. After an hour I got this this gorgeous loaf and it tasted sooo soooo good, served this the next morning with some blurberry preserve, peanut butter, suuny side up and some fresh fruits and we were in food heaven seriously. The kids loved it, VK too enjoyed it considering he is not a chocolate lover and guess what nobody realized the addition of Zucchini to it. It is complete winner.

This is one easy recipe which I am sure everyone would enjoy be it for breakfast, or with evening tea or maybe just anytime when you want chocolate. This recipe is so damn simple actually very easy in case you are not in the mood for that elaborate baking, at the same time very delicious too, within an hour you have this most gorgeous and delicious loaf and at the same time it is healthy too. Talking about healthy eating I am trying to replace butter with canola oil in my bakes to cut down on calories unless it is a sinful bake. This moist loaf loaded with chocolate and zucchini is a great way to feed vegetable to fussy kids and in no time the plate will be clean. I am thankful to God my kids are not fussy at all, they love their veggies and fruits.

How can I make this recipe more healthy considering we will be starting our day with it, made it with whole wheat flour and the vegetable made it even more healthier and delicious. The yogurt here gave texture to the bread and helped it to tenderize. The espresso powder gave more depth to the flavor, as coffee and chocolate complement each other so well and helps to intensify chocolate flavor. This recipe has been adapted from Averie Cook, she has awesome collection to get some baking inspiration from. I have a lot of recipes from Strawberry and grapes in my mind just waiting for the fresh produce. Till then I’m signing off with the recipe.

Recipe for Chocolate & Zucchini Loaf

Ingredients

· 100 grams whole wheat flour

· 70 grams cup all purpose flour

· 55 grams unsweetened cocoa

· 110 ml canola oil

· 1 cup granulated sugar

· 2 large eggs

· 1 tsp vanilla extract

· 2 cups grated zucchini

· ¼ th teaspoon salt

· 2 teaspoon baking powder

· ½ teaspoon instant coffee powder

· ½ cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

· Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/ 177 degrees C. Grease a 9 inch loaf tin.

· Place zucchini in a paper towel to absorb moisture.

· In a medium bowl whisk together oil, sugar, yogurt until combined. Add eggs one at a time and whisk well till all the ingredients are well combined, add vanilla extract and whisk. Set aside.

· In another bowl combine whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, coffee powder, chocolate chips. Whisk well to combine

· Pour the wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Now gently fold in grated zucchini using a rubber spatula.

· Pour the batter into prepared baking tin.

· Bake for around 50 – 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes clean.

· Let it cool down before slicing. Enjoy with your favorite sugar free preserve or peanut butter.

Thanks so much,