Chocolate chip zucchini bread

What's better than zucchini bread? Zucchini bread with chocolate chips!

My mamais a good baker. One of her specialties is zucchini bread. And because my family is awesome, our zucchini bread tends to involve chocolate. This recipe can vary from healthier cinnamon-walnut zucchini bread to chocolate chip zucchini bread, to double chocolate zucchini bread.

All are delicious! A slice of zucchini bread and a cup of coffee makes the perfect breakfast or afternoon snack.

I can remember my mom grating those super-huge zucchinis you get when you leave your veggies too long on the vine into her big mixing bowl. She then proceeded to make loaves and loaves and loaves of zucchini bread. (Remember the biscotti? My mama makes things in large quantities.) Some we ate immediately, and the rest went into the freezer to save for later.

I made zucchini bread one weekend for a LOTR party. I thought that zucchini bread seemed like a hobbit-ish food because it has veggies (hobbits are farmers)…. I imagine Bilbo Baggins sitting down to a slice of zucchini bread for elevensies, or perhaps afternoon tea?

Chocolate chip zucchini bread

3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups flour (you can do half whole wheat and half all-purpose flour if you want)
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped toasted walnuts
3/4 to 1-1/2 cup chocolate chips (this time I got a little carried away and went for 1-1/2 cups of chocolatey goodness … but use your best judgement)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the grated zucchini and salt in a drainer and let sit at least 15 minutes. Press the zucchini with a paper towel to drain out extra moisture.

2. Mix oil, eggs, and brown sugar.

3. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.

4. Mix in drained zucchini, nuts, and chocolate chips if using. The batter will be thin.

5. Pour batter into two greased and floured loaf pans. Bake for 40-55 minutes, until a toothpick or sharp knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes in the pans, then shake the loaves out and continue cooling on a baking rack.

Note: If you wanted to make this more healthy-breakfast-ish, you can always substitute apple sauce for half the oil, do all whole wheat flour, and omit the chocolate chips. Though I can't imagine why you would ever omit the chocolate chips!