Written by Liz -
This Wednesday, Apr 25 is National Zucchini Bread Day, and I’m going to give you a much better alternative to celebrate this food holiday: Whole-Wheat Dark Chocolate Zucchini Brownies. Yes folks, zucchini does belong in brownies – it gives the brownies moisture and weight as well as vitamins and other health benefits. In fact, you can use any light-tasting squash in this recipe. Last fall, my home garden sprouted several squash/pumpkin/zucchini-looking plants all on its own, which threatened to overtake all the vegetables I had actually planted! I kept them in check by picking and cooking as many blossoms as I could, but I still had a lot of green, striped and orangeish squash to eat during fall and winter. So they almost all went into brownies.
Dark chocolate morsels make the flavor rich while adding antioxidants and whole wheat flour works beautifully, making these brownies a little cake-like. And I love encountering the surprise bites of salty-sweet afforded by the coarse sea salt. This brownie recipe is so good; it’s the only one I use now.
To make this recipe easier, I use one whole egg instead of 2 egg whites, and I also reduce the sugar and increase the dark morsels on top. Injecting nutrients into treats, keeping your garden in check and getting the dark chocolate salty burst I crave…I think we can all feel good about eating these brownies.
If you’re in the LA area, come try some this weekend at this year’s LA Blogger Bake Sale benefitting Share Our Strength’s Great American Bake Sale for the No Kid Hungry Campaign. Held this Saturday, Apr 28 at BLD Restaurant at the Grove, the bake sale offers you delicious treats from us (like these brownies and Chris’
Salty & Sweet Chocolate Butter Toffee) and other local food bloggers.
Whole-Wheat Dark Chocolate Zucchini Brownies
Ingredients for 16 servings:
- 1 cup white whole-wheat flour
- 1/3 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Baking Cocoa
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 cup NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Dark Chocolate Morsels, divided
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini (about 3 medium)
Directions:
MELT ¾ cup morsels in large, microwave-safe bowl on HIGH (100%) power for 1 minute; stir until smooth. Cool slightly. Stir in oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg whites and vanilla extract. Stir in flour mixture; fold in zucchini. Spread into prepared pan. Sprinkle remaining ¼ cup morsels over top.
BAKE for 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out slightly sticky. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Lift brownies from pan; cut into 16 squares. Store in airtight container for up to 5 days.
Links:
Related recipes:
 Salty & Sweet Chocolate Butter Toffee |
 Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread |
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3 Comments
Awesome Recipe
These are great… here is another recipe you might like to try.
http://www.wascene.com/food-drink/perfect-chocolate-brownie-recipe/
Thanks for sharing,
Jill
I tried this recipe and I made one little change and that was I used 1/2 C Whole Wheat flour and 1/2 C almond flour.
O…M…G… this was so good. The only complaint my husband had (and mind you, he does not like brownies nor is he a big fan of chocolate) was that they were really good he just wished I had not told him there was zucchini in them. I should have known better but I think I was trying to make sure there would be more for me! Anyway – so yummy and so moist and easy to make!
Love, love, love this recipe! Thank you.
I’m not that much of a online reader to be honest but your blogs really nice, keep it up!
I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back later on. Cheers
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[...] a trend I’ve been seeing lately: adding spinach to smoothies, grating zucchini into brownies and stirring pumpkin into soup and pastas. This may sound crazy, but these are all good ways to [...]
[...] The New Zucchini Bread: Whole-Wheat Dark Chocolate Zucchini Brownies (nestleusa.wordpress.com) [...]
[...] The New Zucchini Bread: Whole-Wheat Dark Chocolate Zucchini Brownies (nestleusa.wordpress.com) [...]
[...] 5. Add salt and pepper to taste (I do it while browning the zucchini.) Serve immediately, alone or over rice. Here’s what I wish I knew before I started: If you’re cooking for more than one, you might want to double, or even triple the amount of zucchini. I realized when I was done that it was only enough for one, and since I was making dinner for two I served it over rice. As I was cooking I also had to reduce the heat to medium to keep the zucchini from sticking to the pan. I go a little overboard with the heat sometimes because as much as I like cooking, I don’t like to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I like eating more, so I prefer to spend a bigger portion of my time around the table with family or friends. I would definitely cook this again. The flavor was very garlicky, thanks to the infused olive oil I bought at the Farmer’s market, and he zucchini caramelized just enough to add an extra punch of flavor. My hubby isn’t a huge fan of zucchini but he said it was amazing. Try for yourself and let me know how it turns out. I ate mine over rice with some chicken tenders. Please leave a comment if you have any tips, questions, or great zucchini recipes. Here are a few that I have bookmarked: Zucchini Tots, Individual Zucchini Quiche (I’ve made this one with different veggies and cheese-I love the whole wheat crust), Dark Chocolate Zucchini Brownies. [...]
[...] The New Zucchini Bread: Whole-Wheat Dark Chocolate Zucchini Brownies (nestleusa.wordpress.com) Share this:PrintTwitterFacebookLinkedInPinterestEmailLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. Categories: Bread, Breakfast, Kosher, Recipe, Vegetarian, Zucchini | Tags: Bread, zucchini | Leave a comment [...]
[...] Need a chocolate fix? Try these healthier brownies: http://nestleusa.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/the-new-zucchini-bread-whole-wheat-dark-chocolate-zucchini… [...]