Zucchini Brownies

While perusing Mindika Moments, I found this little gem of a  recipe. My favorite dessert? Brownies!! Another great way to use our zucchini, satisfy my sweet tooth, and it's safe for the 3 Allergics.

I tried the recipe the night before I was taking it to a post baby blessing luncheon. Really?! New recipes need to have a test run before taken places. Silly me! The batter was really thick and didn't want to move around. Rather than shove it into the corners, I just baked it, thinking it would ooze out to the ends. That's what my usual batters do. I was wrong! I had a brownie blob in the middle of the pan. At least, it was delicious and easy to cut into appealing squares. 

Since then I've made it a few times: plain (without any nuts) and with pecans in the batter. Both ways are delicious. 

1 ½ C. sugar

½ C. oil

2 C. grated or puréed zucchini

2 t. vanilla

2 C. flour

1 t. salt

1 ½ t. baking soda

½ C. cocoa

½ C. toasted pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a jelly roll pan (10 x 15 1/2) with aluminum foil. 

In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, oil, zucchini, and vanilla. Mix well.

Add salt, baking soda, and coco, then mix. Add nuts here for a nutty brownie. Add flour, mix until moist.

Pour batter into jelly roll pan then spread it out an oiled spatula. The batter is a sticky beast 

Bake at  for 20 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. 

• Baking times may vary due to the water content of the zucchini. If you use a bigger zucchini, which has more liquid in it, the brownie batter will take longer to bake. 
• You can use a tea towel to squeeze the extra liquid out before adding the shredded zucchini to the batter. 

Remove and allow to cool.

Frost with chocolate frosting (recipe below) and top with nuts. We skip this part

CHOCOLATE FROSTING
½ C. butter; softened
1 lb. powdered sugar
½ C. cocoa
1 t. vanilla
¼ + milk
1. In a mixing bowl combine the butter, sugar and cocoa.
2. While mixing add the milk until the frosting reaches desired consistency.
3. If you accidentally add too much milk, add more sugar to compensate.

I put some coconut pecan frosting on top and it was yummy! Jake has requested that the next batch have more zucchini, and pecans, and that I bake them in a 8 x 11.5 pan. He likes them a little thicker.

Zucchini Lemon Cookies

I found this Betty Crocker recipe over at Mindika Moments. I made some changes to accommodate the the 3 Allergics. I replaced the butter with applesauce and oil.

I don't always bake a whole batch of cookie, so I like to take the dough, scoop them into balls then freeze them. The balls always maintain their shape. This dough is soft and sticky, so it didn't want to hold it's shape very well.  I just have to make sure to scoop them after they have sat in the fridge for a bit. 

The dough does spread, so be sure to leave more space between the cookie as you place them on the cookie sheet. 
3/4 C. soft butter or 1/2 cup apple sauce & 1/4 cup canola oil
1 ½ C. sugar 
2 eggs 
1 C. grated/pureed Zucchini 
1 C. chopped toasted pecans 
2 t. lemon zest 
1 t. salt 2 t. baking soda 
2 ½ C. all purpose flour 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 
Lightly oil a cookie sheet, spray with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. 
Combine 
mix until they make a dough. 
Scoop dough onto the prepared cookie sheet in 1 inch balls. 
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand to cool for approximately 15 minutes.

I really need to improve my photos. This looks like any other cookie. 

When cool, drizzle with glaze. (see recipe below) 

GLAZE: 

2 C. powdered sugar 

juice of 1 lemon (1/4 C.) 

1 t. vanilla 

Mix all together. After cookies have cooled, drizzle the glaze on top of each cookie.

Bugsy Bread

We've had this bread on several occasions. This time, I decided to swap the carrots for zucchinis. Just as tasty!

Bugsy Bread

(adapted from Easy Home Cooking)

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 canola oil

3 medium eggs, slightly beaten

1 2/3 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini or carrots (6 ounces)

1/2 cups raisins

1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease loaf pan.

In a large bowl, beat brown sugar, granulated sugar and oil for 1 minute. Scrape bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, mix together whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Stir into sugar mixture until dry ingredients are moistened. Fold in carrots, raisins, and pecans.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until toothpick comes out clean

Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.