The celebrating continues!! Today is my amazing mom’s birthday! I don’t think I’ve been with my mom on her birthday in probably seven or eight years, but since she’s in town prepping for all my sister’s last minute wedding madness I’m lucky enough to celebrate with her today. I have immense love and respect for both of my parents, as I talked about on my dad’s birthday. My mom is one of those people who almost makes you feel inadequate, because you will never be as beautiful or as hard-working or as generous or as faithful as she is…except that above all of these things she is humble and manages you to lift you up instead of focusing on her own successes. She is in a lot of ways the backbone of our family, always right there to help with whatever one of us needs. I cherish her and am thrilled to be with her today!
I’m not the only one with a sweet tooth in my family, so you better believe I’ve been excitedly planning on what to spoil her with on her special day. This chocolate zucchini bread isn’t her birthday dessert (that one will be shared in the next few weeks!), but it was definitely good enough to qualify! You would never guess that there’s a full three cups of zucchini that snuck their way into these loaves! Along with some whole wheat flour and Greek yogurt (I opted for Chobani’s new vanilla chocolate chunk—perfect for eating or baking!), these chocolate-filled loaves aren’t nearly as indulgent as they appear. Granted, I couldn’t resist adding some chocolate chips to the batter! Each bite of this melted in my mouth; I was amazed by how moist the zucchini and yogurt kept the bread. If you don’t have mini loaf pans, try this in a larger pan or even as muffins!
Happy, happy birthday mom! I love you!
One Year Ago: Crunchy Asiago Chicken Nuggets
Two Years Ago: Grilled Lamb Chops with Balsamic Honey Glaze and Mint Pesto
Three Years Ago: Ginger Cookies
Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
slightly adapted from Barbara Bakes
Ingredients:
-1 cup all-purpose flour
-1 cup whole-wheat flour
-1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
-1 1/2 tsp baking soda
-1/2 tsp salt
-3/4 cup sugar
-1/3 cup canola oil
-2 eggs
-1 tsp vanilla extract
-3/4 cup Chobani chocolate chunk Greek yogurt
-3 cups grated zucchini (about 1 1/2 medium-sized zucchini)
-1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Spray 4 mini loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside (alternately, use 2 regular sized loaf pans).
2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt, stirring to combine.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar, oil, eggs, and vanilla until blended. Beat in yogurt until combined.
4. Stir in dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Add zucchini and chocolate chips, stirring to combine.
5. Divide batter evenly between prepared pans. Bake mini loaves for 30-35 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean (bake regular sized loaves for 50-60 minutes). Allow to cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing bread from pan. Cool on a wire rack completely before wrapping in foil and storing in an airtight container in the fridge.