Double Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

If you think that eating 2 cups of zucchini squash and a half a cup of carrots is pretty boring, your probably right......but.....but, what if you disguised it in a decadent rich chocolate cake. 

The true test was my 3 year old. I can't sneak anything by him. As far as he knows, mama let him have chocolate cake for breakfast. Yummy!!!

This is the first time I have made this, I would probably use a milder flavor honey next time, or even a light maple syrup. I used my raw honey, and it is a very strong flavored honey.   I adapted this recipe from a King Arthur recipe, added the carrots, extra melted dark chocolate in the batter and some sourdough starter. 

Double Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

1 cup of All-purpose flour

2/3 cup sourdough starter 

(if you do not have this, that's ok, just add an extra 2/3 cup of flour instead.I do think that this adds a great depth of flavor, and moistness to the loaf.)

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

2 eggs

½ cup sunflower or safflower  oil (you could use any vegetable oil)

½ cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup honey (use a mild flavor honey, or a light color maple syrup)

2 ounces of good quality dark chocolate melted. 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups shredded zucchini

1/2 cup shredded carrots

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour an 8x4-inch loaf pan; set aside.

- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and baking soda; set aside.

- Melt the 2 ounces of chocolate in the microwave. I do 30 sec on 50% power. Stir, 30 more sec on 50% power, stir until smooth. You so not want to over heat the chocolate. Set aside. 

- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sunflower oil, sourdough starter, brown sugar, honey and vanilla extract. Add about a cup of the above mixture to the bowl of melted chocolate GRADUALLY. you want to temper the chocolate because you don't want it to scramble the eggs. Once you add the mixture to the chocolate. Dump the chocolate mixture back into the wet ingredients and whisk everything until smooth. 

- Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and use a spatula to gently fold the batter together until almost no flour remains. Stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips, making sure they are evenly distributed.

-  Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 65 to 75 minutes, or until a toothpick (or thin knife) inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing. Store leftovers at room temperature, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap.

(Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour)