Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

It's time again for Secret Recipe Club reveal!  My secret blog assignment this month is Thyme for Cooking Blog which is all about the food, and life in France.  I wish, wish, wish I had more time to spend poring through this lovely blog.  I want to know about restoring a French farmhouse, and I want to know how Katie, who started in Minnesota and Wisconsin, managed to end up in France - with a few other interesting stops along the way.  We lived in Wisconsin for 15 years, but I do not think there's any chance we'll be ending up in France.  I will most definitely be reading through Katie's posts more thoroughly whenever I find the time!  I love how all her posts include not only the recipe but also an interesting story about what is going on in her life.

For now, I'm glad she loves healthy food, healthy ingredients, and most of all Simple Recipes.  Of course, simple (but tasty) recipes are a big favorite of mine, but this month I really needed something simple.  I spent a week cooking dinners for approximately 90 people at Camp Outreach, and the weeks prior to that were spent planning, shopping, and cooking chicken and taco meat in advance.  If only I could have used a recipe from Thyme for Cooking Blog for camp...   That would have been awesome!  So, Katie, when you read this, feel free to point me to any of your recipes that may have been great camp fare.  There's always next year.  Maybe.

This Italian Beef and Cabbage might have been good.  I am definitely going to try that soon.  Chicken with Red Beets and Cabbage is on my 'to make' list too, along with Beef, Cabbage, and Feta on Barley.  I seem to see a cabbage theme here.

In the end I picked this Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread, because chocolate.  And not only chocolate, but double chocolate.  And also zucchini, and it's one of those simple recipes which I thought would be perfect to share, because, with the slightly longer 4th of July weekend, we decided to go visit my parents, and I always try to take something so Mom doesn't have to fix all the food.  This Apple Bread was also a possibility, but the chocolate won out.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
from Thyme for Cooking Blog

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 cups shredded zucchini
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup unbleached flour
• 1-1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 6-8 oz. chocolate, chopped (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. Butter 2 large loaf pans, then line the bottom with parchment paper.
3. Combine butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla in a large bowl and mix well.  Stir in zucchini.
4. Mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon together; stir dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir gently to combine.
5. Add chocolate chunks and walnuts and stir just until combined. 
6. Divide batter between prepared loaf pans.
7. Bake 55-60 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
8. Remove from oven and let rest for at least 5 minutes before removing from pans. Cool completely before slicing.

This recipe is a definite keeper.  Deep, dark chocolatey, chunky and super moist.  The first words that came to mind when I bit into my first piece were, "Oh, Baby."  It is so good.  I stored it in the refrigerator because of the moistness, and I think that made it even better.  The two loaves did not last long when I put them out to be shared.  It really was hard to resist grabbing just one more piece.  And it didn't look like anyone was actually trying to resist.

Thanks for the recipe, Katie.  I will be making this again.  And again.  I see why you make it often.

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