Ah, it’s Labor Day weekend and that means it’s almost the end of summer. I cling to these days. In Seattle we usually don’t get true summer weather until the middle of August, so we feel like we need to soak up the sun as much as we can before it’s gone again. And, when Seattle gets summer, it is perfect. Hot-ish but with a cool breeze. No humidity. Apparently our summers are “Mediterranean” summers, which means hot and dry. It’s kind of weird–we often even get a drought during the summer, which people never believe since it’s Seattle.
Years ago, we bought some rain barrels, thinking we would save rainwater to water our garden. As it turns out, rain barrels aren’t effective in this climate. They overflow during most of the year because it’s so rainy, and then during the time of year (now) when we need the water, there is no rain. LOL. At one point dAhub rigged up a situation where our bath water was piped out of the bathroom window into a rain barrel. We felt so virtuous by watering our garden with our grey water–just like my family did when I was growing up in California. But, it wasn’t really that effective and we eventually stopped. Now the rain barrels are just decorative elements under the downspouts. Sigh.
Anyway, now is the time for the last hurrah of fresh fruits and vegetables. And it’s major summer squash season. Unlike many people, I love zucchini and never tire of it. I grew up eating zucchini and it’s been a staple in my life ever since. I just steam it and top it with a dab of butter and a bit of salt. And Girlfriend seems to have gotten this love of zucchini from me. When she was a baby, we cooked and mashed zucchini for her almost every day, and froze much more for the rest of the year–and she couldn’t get enough. And it’s the same now. On the other hand, dAhub finally admitted to me that he can’t take too much of it. It’s just not his favorite. So, I haul home bunches of zucchini from the farmers market for me and Girlfriend. And I look for other ways to make it for dAhub. I mix it into spaghetti sauce, which is always a winner, and it’s terrific in soup.
As you can imagine, zucchini bread is high on the list of ways to use zucchini. Anytime I can insert baking into the situation, I will do it! I have a zucchini bread recipe that I’ve been using for years that we all love. But this summer, I got the hankering for zucchini bread with even more chocolate. And Girlfriend got her wisdom teeth out last week (she had a fifth wisdom tooth growing on top of the the other ones and her orthodontist said they all had to go). So, she’s been recovering this past week. Because she couldn’t eat much other than mushed up veggies and fruit and and applesauce, she was getting bored of the food we were eating. So, I fiddled with a recipe for zucchini bread that had lower sugar than my normal zucchini bread–and with lots of chocolate–for her to have as a snack. As it turns out, we all really like this recipe and I’ve been making it every few days.
This recipe is bit lower in sugar that my other recipe, which allows the chocolate flavor to shine through. Also, as you may remember, I have a condition called Oral Allergy Syndrome (OAS). This means that I am allergic to many fruits, vegetables, and nuts in their raw state. As it turns out, uncooked zucchini gives me a horrible stomach ache. And, at this point, the amount that zucchini is cooked during the baking process isn’t quite enough for me, so I need to pre-cook them a bit more before adding them to the batter. Therefore, I microwave the shredded zucchini for 1 minute and then let it cool before I add it to the batter. If raw zucchini makes your mouth itch or gives you a stomach ache, then you might also have OAS–and this trick will help you.
Chocolate, Chocolate Zucchini Bread, Gluten-Free
Yield: 1-9 in x 5 in/23 cm x 13 cm loaf
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (215 grams) Jeanne’s Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour mix
1/2 cup (45 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted to remove lumps
1 tablespoon aluminum-free double-acting baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (105 grams) brown sugar (I like dark brown but light brown is fine)
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
2 extra-large eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup (160 ml) neutral flavored vegetable oil (I like Rice Bran oil)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (190 grams) shredded zucchini
2/3 cups (225 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/180 degrees C/Gas Mark 4. Grease and flour a 9 in x 5 in/23 cm x 13 cm loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat together eggs, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium for 10 minutes (yes, 10 minutes). Mixture should eventually become thick and creamy. After 10 minutes, reduce the speed to low and slowly add the oil in a steam at the side (you don’t want to deflate the mixture too much). Beat until combined. Add vanilla extract, beat until combined. Add flour mixture and beat until combined. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in cooled zucchini mixture and chocolate chips.
Scrape batter into the loaf pan and smooth top. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 1 hour or until a tester comes out clean or with just a few crumbs on it.
Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Store wrapped in plastic wrap or aluminum foil at room temperature for up to 4 days.
Note: If you use a different gluten-free flour mix, alter the amount of or eliminate the xanthan gum or use a different gluten-replacer, use dairy-free or egg-free substitutes, or change any other ingredients in this recipe, your results may not match my results.
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2012 Jeanne Sauvage
Found your recipe on pinterst and made these today for the first time. They are seriously good! Love having a bit of hidden vegetables in something that tastes like moist chocolate pound cake. Thanks for providing a printable recipe too–Love that feature! 🙂
Mendi: Yay! I’m so glad to help!
So I just had to say, I had never heard of OAS, I just thought I was weird. THANK YOU for sharing this info! I have always had problems with raw fruits, especially when I also have seasonal allergies. Great to know there’s a reason I feel that way!
Also, this bread looks awesome!
Casey: I’m so glad to be of help!
Hi there! 🙂
I am letting my 2 delicious loaves of bread cool as we speak and they smell out of this world. I too had a issue with my batter being overly thick and a bit dry. I did use large eggs…….I doubled the recipe and added a total of 5 large eggs and had only yellow squash on hand in replace of the zucchini, other than that I did follow the recipe to a T. I will have to say that I do a lot of gluten free baking and it is no surprise that the batter becomes a super thick and glutenous batter. I have come across this several times before and chalk it up to the gluten free flour blend. However, my loaves are incredibly moist. I did check them after 50 minutes of baking and decided to take them out of the oven. I also would like to add that once I added the shredded squash to the super duper thick batter, it become very moist and manageable to stir. I will for sure make this recipe again, thank you!!!
Cathlean: I’m so glad you like it! And using yellow squash is an awesome idea!
Mmmmm! I did make this with oil and it turned out great (despite my accidentally dumping the granulated sugar in the flour mix and not with the eggs/brown sugar…oops!). Strangely I don’t like it warm (along with other gluten free breads). I sliced it after it cooled, then placed between wax paper and put in the freezer. Now I can just pull out a slice and have some any time!
Tracy: Yay!
My zucchini are almost ready and I can’t wait to try this recipe. It’s similar to my old (gluten containing) zucchini cake recipe that I so badly miss. My only question before I try it is if I can use butter instead of oil? I’m thinking it might mess up the liquid/solid ratio, but I usually prefer things baked with butter when possible. Thanks!
Tracy: Sure! I think that should be fine.
I made this today, and it came out very well- moist and chocolate-y. It didn’t crumble at all. I did microwave the zucchini a little, (30 seconds) since you said you did that because of your OAS. Pre-cooking it did make the zucchini a little moister, so maybe that’s why it turned out so perfectly for me. I followed all of the other directions exactly, and made no substitutions. You really are the queen of gf cake/tea breads! Thanks, as always!
Michelle: Yay! And you’ve just reminded me that we have a bunch of zucchini in the fridge. I know what I’m making tonight…:)
I just made this recipe… came out fantastic!! Hubby has celiac so I’m gluten free by choice (easier to cook/bake the same way) and it was his first time ever being able to eat zucchini bread. Thanks for this recipe!!
Jessica: Yay! I’m so glad!
Just made this today. I used 3 large eggs because I did not have large eggs and I used sorghum flour and added 1 1/2 tsp xanthan gum instead of your flour mixture and it turned out wonerful!!!! It is moist and not crumbly at all. I am wondering if folks let the sugar and eggs mix for 10 minutes? That mixture was so creamy at the end of the 10 minutes and then adding the oil and vanilla was plenty of wet ingredients! Will make this many, many times!!!!
Meant to say did not have EXTRA large eggs!!
Angela: Yay! I’m so glad you like it!!
Just finished baking this one. It crumbled as soon as I sliced into the loaf. It’s incredibly tasty and I’ll definitely be eating it, but not very good for taking to work.
I used extra large eggs and followed the instructions exactly.
Laurel: Yes, this bread is more dense and packed with additions than my other zucchini bread. The presence of zucchini plus chocolate chips means that there are fewer contact points for this dough to cling to dough. Therefore, this bread does tend to fall apart into big pieces. Try my other version and see if you like it better.
My bread turned out great and my family loves it! Any idea how many calories are in this?
Suzanne: Greetings! I’m so glad you like it. I will admit, I don’t know how many calories are in it. I know that there are websites that will figure it out for you–I think you input the ingredients and then they will estimate the calories. Happy baking!
I think there is something wrong with this recipe. Not enough liquid?
I followed the directions exactly, and I didn’t leave anything out– but my results are dry and crumbly. I am going to finish drying them and use them for cheese cake base because I can’t eat the slices without coughing.
Actually I didn’t follow the directions exactly- I pulled it out at 50 minutes because I could already tell that it was done.
(Yes, I did beat for a full 10 minutes.)
Corlissa: I don’t know what to say. Since other people in the comment stream have had success with the recipe, I am assuming there are no typos. And I don’t get a dry, crumbly loaf when I make it. It is a sturdy loaf, for sure, but not dry and crumbly. Did you make any other changes to the recipe? As in, did you use the exact ingredients in the exact amounts?
I double and triple checked all my ingredients, I followed it as printed with the exception of not needing to cook as long. I’m not sure what happened either. I’m in Edmonton so no elevation issues and my oven hasn’t shown signs of needing calibration. I used avacado oil, but I have done it before and always had good results so I am hesitant to blame my oil choice. I had a conversation with another GF lady in my office this morning and we have had the same problem with a few recipes that only contain fat and eggs for the liquid in recipes. I think next time I will replace half the oil with applesauce and see if that makes a difference in texture.
Corlissa: If you want a lighter bread, I would recommend checking out my other Zucchini Bread recipe–it is more along traditional lines. This Chocolate Chocolate recipe was designed to be lower in oil and sugar than normal, which means that it is dense and heavier bread that packs in the chocolate flavor. If you want to make a change to this particular recipe, I would recommend increasing the oil to 3/4 cup and increasing the granulated sugar to 1/3 cup. But, again, it sounds like what you are looking for is my other Zucchini recipe.
I actually had the same issue, it was completely dry even before I finished mixing everything. I double checked all the ingredients as well, and didn’t change anything. I even added an extra egg at the end to try to moisten it up a little bit. But it was still a really thick batter. The dough was really tasty, but once I baked the bread (and I had a little bit too much dough so I made muffins out of the leftover), the muffins and the bread were both extremely dry. I felt as if I should’ve added milk or something! Not sure, but something was definitely off, so I just thought I’d mention it…(now that I noticed CAFly’s comment AFTEr baking this! haha oh well!) Otherwise, great website! 🙂 Thanks!
Terri: Did you use extra-large eggs? This batter is thick, but it’s not as thick as you’re describing. And the resulting bread isn’t dry–it’s fairly moist. I’m not sure why your bread turned out the way it did. Let me know.
I didn’t know you have oral allergy syndrome. I had been having a similar set of symptoms this summer then discovered I’m fine so long as I don’t handle the vegetables until after they’re washed. Too much pollen. The bread looks wonderful by the way.
El: Bleh–OAS sucks. It is the bane of my existence. I am fine with the gluten-intolerance/wheat allergy, but it is really hard not to be able to eat fresh fruits and veggies. And thank you so much for the kind words about the bread. And thanks for visiting!
This looks wonderful! Cannot wait to try it; love that it is lower in sugar. Great use for all my zucchini! Thank you!!
My son has always had a milk allergy and my husband now has a gluten and lactose intolerance, as well as a sensitivity to some other foods. Both have SEVERE Reflux disease (GERD) and other health conditions that can be worsened without careful watch of their diets (always keeping it healthy and balanced) , so dinners are particularly challenging now. I have been so glad to be able to bake some yummy treats and breads now after finding your site, but I really need some dinner help! Especially things that a 4 year old will hopefully eat and enjoy! If you do have any more favorite dinner recipes to share it would be SO appreciated! Thanks!
Tried this recipe and it was AMAZING! We have loved every recipe we’ve tried from your site. Thank you SO much! Do you by chance have a website as well for savory/dinner recipes?…If not, maybe you should too! Thanks again!
Kimberly: Aw, I’m so glad!! Yay–thanks for letting me know. I do have a few recipes for savory things but I really need to add more–thanks for the encouragement to do it!
I linked over to your page from another site when looking at recipes…and I came across your reference to “OAS”. Which I had NEVER heard of but now explains SO many things in my life! I have these crazy reactions to foods but then I test negative on most allergy tests. Bananas and avocados particularly cause my throat and tongue to swell.
Thank you so much for teaching me something today!
Carrie: I know! OAS is not very well known. And you don’t test allergic to the foods you react to via OAS because it’s technically a pollen reaction. So weird. I’m glad I could be of help. I also react to raw bananas–I actually get an anaphylactic reaction to raw bananas, which is very scary. And, I also react to avocados–so sad.
What a fantastic recipe indeed, and a great way to use up those millions of zuchini lurking in the garden beds 🙂