Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

This bread is the bomb.  Pardon my cheesy word choice (I promise I haven’t said that since middle school, maybe), but I’ve seriously never had such rich, chocolate-y zucchini bread in my life.  I tried two recipes: one from Joy of Baking and the other from Taste of Home… this was the winner.

It’s quick to throw together and even faster to disappear if you have a hungry boyfriend and roommates like I do.  This is the third loaf I’ve made since Christmas… I highly recommend it!

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread
Makes one 9×5 loaf

1 1/2 cups zucchini, shredded
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips (I found that mini chips work best)

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 9×5 loaf pan with cooking spray (or grease with butter/shortening).

In a mixer, combine your oil, sugars and vanilla. Mix in your eggs and shredded zucchini. In a separate bowl, sift together your flours, salt, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder. Slowly add this dry mixture into your wet mixture. Beat until combined. Mix in your chocolate chips.

Scrape your batter prepared loaf pan, and bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center. Remove from oven and cool in pan for 10 minutes before cooling on a wire rack.

Recipe from Joy of Baking 

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

WARNING: This recipe is dangerous.

Before you proceed, please know that salted caramel pretzel bark may induce random spells of uncontrollable snacking, intense sensations of euphoria and heightened protective instincts (over your share of the pretzel bark, of course).

I’m kidding, sort of.  But this recipe really is special.  My housemate actually said that she is “going to get pregnant one day and crave this stuff”… it’s THAT good (and she also usually comes up with crazy hyperboles like this).  Another one of my housemates told me that I should probably hide it from the rest of the house (I took this advice).

The best part is, you probably already have all of these ingredients in your kitchen.  It takes about 15 minutes to whip together, and the end result will impress all of your friends.  I just have pictures of the end product here, but the pin (as in Pintrest) I found the recipe on has a very nice picture guide if you prefer a visual step-by-step guide. You can find the link here.

Salted Caramel Pretzel Bark

1/2 bag mini pretzel twists
2 sticks of butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 bag of chocolate chips
Sea salt

Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper (NOT wax paper) and spread pretzels evenly over the bottom (mine didn’t overlap, I arranged them in neat rows).  Now, preheat the oven to 350 F.

Set aside, and melt butter and sugar in a medium sauce pan on medium heat.  Bring to a boil, and stir continuously until mixture sticks to the bottom of the pan and forms a smooth caramel.  Let it bubble and get nice and thick before you pour the caramel evenly over the pretzels.

Place jelly roll sheet in oven for 5 minutes, remove, sprinkle chocolate chips over the top, and place back into the oven for 1 more minute.  Spread the chocolate around with a spatula until it is mostly melted, then sprinkle generously with sea salt. Let the pan sit on counter top for about 5 minutes, and then place in the freezer to harden for at least two hours.

Break bark into piece with your hands, and try not to finish the whole pan in one night! This is best stored in an air-tight bag in the freezer.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Have you ever had such a close friend that their family sort of became your family too?  Well I have at least two friends like that, and today, these cupcakes celebrate the birthday of my basically-sister, Claire- the real sister of my BFF, Shannon.

Claire is 22 today!  I asked her if she was excited, and she said no not really, because 22 isn’t that exciting of a birthday.  (I disagree, all birthdays are exciting in my world).  Obviously, I had to bake her something really yummy to be excited about!

These are another Pintrest find.  I expected the cupcakes to be light and fluffy, but I was soooo wrong about that.  I forgot that peanut butter makes everything heavy and dense, so in reality these turned out to have a texture more like that of a chocolate chip cookie.  But still… they are delish! I made them dairy free by replacing  the butter and milk with soy milk and Earth balance, and I used my favorite vegan peanut butter buttercream recipe instead of the one that the recipe listed (it’s the best frosting I’ve ever had, period).

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cupcakes
Makes 15-18 cupcakes

1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 smooth natural peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup margarine, softened
2 tablespoons non-hydrogenated shortening
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (don’t use natural for the frosting, it will make the frosting a weird texture)
1 tablespoon barley malt syrup or molasses (optional, but barley malt syrup makes this frosting perfect)
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups confectioners sugar
1-2 tablespoons non-dairy milk

For Cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine milk and vanilla in small bowl. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in bowl. Beat Butter and sugars in mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs and blend until smooth. Slowly mix in peanut butter. Add half the flour mixture and blend slowly. When fully incorporated, add milk mixture. Continue to blend slowly. Add remaining flour mixture and mis on low speed just until incorporated. Add chocolate chips and fold in by hand. Scoop into 12 lined baking cups and bake for about 22 minutes, or until tops spring back when lightly touched and the edges are golden brown.

For the Frosting: Cream margarine and shortening in a large bowl. Add peanut butter, barley malt syrup and vanilla, and beat until very smooth or for about 2-3 minutes. Beat in sugar; mixture will be very stiff at this point. Dribble in milk a little at a time, beating until frosting is a pale tan color and very fluffy. Frost cooled cupcakes.

Cupcake recipe from Recipe Snobs
Frosting recipe from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World by Isa Chandra Moskowitz

Graham Cracker Toffee Bark with Almonds

I recently remembered this chewy graham cracker toffee my mom used to make when I was little.  She sent me to a school-wide overnight party in middle school, and gave me this to share with my friends.  It looked sort of unappetizing compared to the Chips Ahoy and Nutter Butter cookies that other kids brought, so no one really ate any of it.  My mom was super offended when I  brought home a full plate, she even claimed that we were all “just kids” and that we “don’t know what good food is when they see it”… see where I get it from?  But I was excited, because it meant there was more for me! That stuff was amazing.

I asked my mom for the recipe, but she couldn’t find it.  This isn’t as good as the original recipe, but it it is still pretty great. This recipe also takes ten minutes tops to make, and you probably have all the ingredients right in your pantry! So why not?

Graham Cracker Toffee Bark

12 whole graham crackers
1 and 1/2 sticks of butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Line a jelly roll pan with foil (it’s like a cookie sheet with sides). Preheat oven to 400F. Place graham crackers in the pan, make sure there are no spaces in between each. In a saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Boil for two minutes, stirring constantly.  Stir in vanilla, then carefully pour over graham crackers. Sprinkle chopped almonds and chocolate chips over the top and bake for 6-8 minutes. Cool completely, then break into pieces and eat.

Recipe by me

Pictures by Emily- check out her portfolio! 

Garbanzo Cookie Balls

Oh, spring term, hello again.  Winter semester has ended, and while most of my friends journey back home to prepare for their summer internships or exciting vacations, I will be staying on campus, taking more classes so I can graduate next May.  I did spring term last year, and I am actually pretty excited to be able to take it easy(er), study a bit, work, and enjoy the warm weather.  Since campus is less busy during the summer months, it is pretty quiet around town and I will have a chance to focus on myself and get things done.  By “things”, I mean eating less, working out, cleaning my house… etc.  You know, healthy things.

I’m sure most women my age undergo a diet/exercise panic around this time. Bikini season is really close now, and it is definitely time to shake off the extra pounds I accumulated during the winter months.  Remember my post about the mini “health kicks” I go on every few months (found here)? Well another one has started! And these cookie balls are a product of my latest body obsession.

These cookie balls intrigued me because they are made of beans, and they also are completely vegan.  These cookie balls do not contain any butter/margarine/oil/shortening, and there is only 3 tablespoons of flour in the entire recipe too!  If the Atkins diet were still around… this would be the Atkins dieter’s dream.

Sadly, these are not a low calorie treat by any means. These babies pack 264 calories per ball and have 11 grams of sugar each also.  BUT, they are very high in fiber (8.5 grams each), and have 12.6 grams of protein per ball.  Since I am sort of addicted to baked goods (starting a baking blog does that to you…), I thought these would be a great way to ease myself into a summer diet while cutting back on white flours and sugar, and unnecessary fat.

Let me be the first to tell you though… these are pretty good, but only because I know they are made entirely from beans and peanut butter.  Chocolate chip cookies made with white flour, gobs of butter and shortening and real white sugar are probably going to taste a lot better to most people, but hey, we all sacrifice things for our health, right?  I will take these over 100-calorie pack Oreo “crackers” any day, and I’m getting vital nutrients at the same time.  So there.

If you want to make these a bit healthier, you can cut out the peanut butter completely and add an extra tablespoon of brown rice flour to help thicken things up.  I figured that out by accident when I made my first batch of these balls.  Also, the original recipe only calls for 1 tablespoon of maple syrup, and by cutting back on those two ingredients, you can reduce the sugar in half and get rid of about 60 calories per serving.  Happy swimsuit season!

Garbanzo Cookie Balls
Makes 18-20 cookie balls

1 can chickpeas, rinsed, drained, and de-skinned (picture below)
1 can white beans, rinsed and drained (I used cannellini)
1/2 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp brown rice flour
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
a drizzle of unsweetened non-dairy milk

^^^These are the de-skinned garbanzo beans! All you have to do is pinch the bean a little bit and the skin should slide right off.

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a cookie sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.  Combine everything but the almond milk and chocolate chips in a food processor until the beans are blended.  While the food processor is still running, drizzle a tiny bit of your favorite non-dairy milk into the mixture until it reaches a smooth, doughy consistency.  Scoop out the dough and fold in the chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.

At this point, the dough will be very sticky, but do your best to shape it into balls and roll in hands to make smooth.  Place on prepared cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Slightly adapted from Purple Bird Blog (I only added more maple syrup)