Monday 4 February 2013

Chocolate Zucchini Slice











It's the start of another busy year of school for the boys. I'm always looking for new snack food to keep them going between meals, after school, before sport and when they're not actually sitting down to a meal. Growing boys need their food. Food. Food. Food. I can't seem to fill them up.  It's like living with a couple of Pavlov's dogs, they see me and think "food". I may as well have "Short-Order Cook" tattooed on my forehead. This moist, chocolatey slice, not too sweet and full of things like zucchini and banana, is perfect for a grab-and-go snack... it's not bad for an exhausted mothers afternoon tea either.



Chocolate Zucchini Slice
Makes 12

225g shredded raw zucchini
125g plain flour
45g cocoa powder, sifted
1 teaspoon bi-carbonate of soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1 egg
1 banana, mashed
125 ml canola oil
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Spray a 23 x 13 x 8 cm baking pan with olive oil spray.

Grate the zucchini. Set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, bi-carbonate of soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. Then fold in the chocolate chips.

In another large bowl whisk the eggs. Then add the oil, mashed banana, sugar, and vanilla extract and whisk until well blended. Fold in the grated zucchini.Then fold into the flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45 minutes.

Place on a wire rack to cool for about 10 minutes, then remove the bread from the pan and cool completely before slicing.

12 comments:

  1. This is a perfect snack. I am not good with conversions, so would you be so kind as to e-mail the U.S. version? (panderson54@snet.net) It is a perfect recipe for summer zucchini and those 2 bananas that never get eaten! Handsome boys by the way and I had one myself that was a never ending pit - could not get enough food. Cost more to feed him than cloth him.

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  2. Thanks Patty. I've emailed the Imperial measurements to you, but I'll give them here as well:
    1 1/2 cups (shredded raw zucchini (about 1/2 pound)
    1 cup all-purpose flour
    1/2 cup cocoa powder
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    1/4 teaspoon baking powder
    1/4 teaspoon salt
    1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    1/4 teaspoon ground all spice
    1/4 teaspoon ground freshly grated nutmeg
    1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
    1 egg
    1 mashed banana
    1/2 cup canola oil
    1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
    1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

    Bake at 350 degrees F.

    This is a great recipe for me at the moment, I have so many zucchinis in the garden and always have wilting bananas in the fruit bowl.

    Boys, bottomless pits.

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  3. Great ingredients, I pretty much have all of them in the fridge and pantry at the moment too. I'll have to give this one a go!
    By the way, I made your banana cake yesterday and it was delicious! Thanks Jen.
    P.s cute photo of the boys :)

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  4. I love zucchini in dessert or snack because we don't taste it. So it's a vegetable hidden in a treat. Love it :) + the fact that it contains chocolate and banana...you got me there hihi :)

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  5. Your boys are so adorable! Grab-and-go snacks are the best, especially when they involve CHOCOLATE.

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  6. Hey Sam. It's a great recipe for using up all those languishing fruit and veg. Easy, moist, chocolatey, moreish. You can eat slice after slice, without too much guilt. Well, I can any way.

    Glad you liked the banana cake. Another one of those recipes to use up withering fruit. I seem to have more wilting bananas than fresh ones most of the time, which means lots of banana cake. Works out pretty well actually.

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  7. Hey Gabrielle. Zucchini is the perfect ingredient for this kind of thing isn't it? It adds moisture and bulk without the fat. Not too much sugar and no butter but lots of chocolate flavour, it would be perfect for you.

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  8. Thanks Little Kitchie. I don't tell the boys there's zucchini in it. You can get away with anything if you put enough chocolate in it.

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  9. What a healthy twist to the chocolate loaf. I would love to give these a try. YUM!

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  10. Thanks Amy. Healthy means you can eat more of it, right?

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  11. I made once a chocolate and zucchini loaf and I loved it! I will definitly love this!

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  12. Hey Kim, if you're a fan of chocolate and zucchini, you'll love this.

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