There’s a zucchini in my dessert!
I love zucchini: the taste, the color, even the name. (It’s fun to say, right?) Therefore, it is only natural that I’d enjoy zucchini paired with one of my other great loves: chocolate!
Such as in the above recipe: Chocolate Grasshopper Pie.
In general, zucchini lends moisture and softness to recipes without leaving an offending flavor. So, although it might sound strange, the squash makes a great addition to desserts.
I’m not the only one who likes zucchini in her desserts. My friend, Lindsay, does as well. And if Lindsay likes it, it must be good… because Lindsay is a best-selling cookbook author!
Lindsay and I first became friends through our blogs, and I’ve been so excited to watch my sweet friend flourish into a vegan-cookbook phenom. You might know her super-cute blog, The Happy Herbivore. Today, I am honored to have Lindsay as a guest on my blog, highlighting a recipe from her cookbook—Chocolate-Zucchini Muffins!
In Lindsay’s words: Moist and chocolatey, you won’t believe that these muffins are healthy, almost completely fat-free and have a veggie slipped in! This is also a great way to use up all that leftover summer harvest zucchini!
Chocolate Zucchini Muffins
Servings: 12
- 1¼ cups whole wheat pastry flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
- 1¼ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 whole banana, mashed
- ½ cup raw sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ¼ cup non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup shredded zucchini
- ½ cup raw sugar (optional)
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease muffin pan and set aside. If using paper liners, lightly spray inside of liners with cooking spray to prevent sticking. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together. In another bowl, cream mashed banana with applesauce and sugar (use extra 1/2 cup for a very sweet, dessert-like muffin). Add in soymilk, vanilla, zucchini and any other optional add-ins you might like such as vegan chocolate chips or chopped raw walnuts. Stir until evenly combined. Add flour mix to wet mix in 3-4 batches and stir until just combined. Spoon batter into greased muffin pan and bake 18-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Chef’s Note: These muffins store well both in the fridge and freezer & the raw sugar in this recipe may be reduced to 1/2 cup.
EDIT: The cookbook giveaway is now closed.
Congratulations to Jemma!
Please email me, at chocolatecoveredkatie@msn.com, with your mailing address, so I can get your cookbook to you! 🙂
I love grilled zucchini and zucchini in stir frys! Actually, I love it no matter how it is prepared. I’ve made baked goods it before but not very often.
Don’t enter me for the cookbook, I have it. Can’t wait for her next one! Though between all your fantastic recipes and Lindsays it makes it pretty tough to decide what to make next!!
I LOVE cranberry zucchini bread with walnuts! So festive 🙂 Muffin flavor is definitely carrot/walnut (apparently I love walnuts in baked goods??) and Lindsay ROCKS!!
I love making “noodles” for raw pastas with zucchini. Second fav is baking with it in any kind of bread/ muffin, etc. My zucchini is blowing up in our garden, so I will have to come up with many uses for it this summer!
I do love zucchini. I have made muffins and cake, but my favorite way to use it is to shred it lengthwise into ribbons and put it into a salad… green and yellow.
Nice giveaway! And nice guest post, Lindsay!
These look so good! I’ve never made zucchini bread or muffins. I just might have to make these. 🙂 My favorite use for zucchini is probably roasting it. Mmm, it’s so good. My favorite muffin flavor… that’s a tricky one. I guess it depends on how I’m feeling that day!
I love to fry zucchini and have them as fries- they’re also really good in a tofu mash with squashes! I’m going to have to try chocolate and zucchini sometime- can you believe I haven’t yet?
And I love Happy Herbivore! Just checked out her blog, and it is definitely going to have to be one of my morning must-haves!
Lindsay rocks and I love zucchini in breads and waffles.
those look delicious! My favorite use is zucchini bread 🙂
My favorite zucchini recipe is my mother’s chocolate zucchini cake. It is the cake of my childhood! I have missed it so since going gluten/dairy/egg/soy/refined sugar-free! Thanks for this giveaway, Katie, and for the lovely guest post, Lindsay!
thanks Desi!
Hehe, what a cute book!
My favorite way to use zucchini is roasting them and putting them in lasagna :P, but I’m certainly open to putting them in desserts.
And my favorite muffin flavor has got to be… Banana nut 🙂