So, remember those enormous zucchinis? What to do what to do what to do? I was a bit perplexed. The easy answer was zucchini bread, but after six loaves only took down one zucchini, I got a little curious for another alternative for it.
hmmm..............
brownies?
Well, alrighty then, here we go.
I googled zucchini and found a plethora of recipes, but the brownie one was one that I was looking for.
Here are the basics (which we know I'll have to stray away from):
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
Preheat oven to 350
Thank goodness for electronic kitchen gadgets. I'd have been shredding for days if I couldn't just cut, quarter and drop into the Black 'n' Decker Quick n Easy. So shredding, shredding, shredding... you get the picture. Then done!
My first step was to cream together the butter and sugar.... Already I started deviating and taking liberties.... instead of using just regular granulated sugar I substituted 1/2 cup of golden brown sugar. I love the way the brown sugar seems to just add depth to it... it's like you take a bite and then the deliciousness from that brown sugar traps you into this sinkhole of heavenly yumminess that you can't escape from until the whole sweet treat is gone.
From there I added the eggs, slowly (that's so hard to even type for someone with the patience of a gnat), one at a time until I had a gooey, golden wheat colored concoction about the consistency of yogurt. Now comes the messy part (YAY!) Carefully add the salt and baking soda and the flour in SMALL increments, like 1/2 cup at most. Your mixer will blow them all around and back and up and make a minor disaster out of your work surface if you aren't careful. It reminds me of construction and dirt roads, but that's another story for another time. Usually if you can get the mixer at the slowest speed it cuts down on the blowback. I also like to drape a slightly damp kitchen towel over the mixer and the bowl to contain some of the dust.
Eventually all of the ingredients will be mixed.... wait, I missed the zucchini. Let's zip back for a minute. You can do this a couple different ways. I've alternated adding the flour mixture with a small amount of zucchini to keep the mix moist and I've also just folded the zucchini in slowly at the end. It just depends on the feel of the batter to you and how strong you're feeling. Baking has become my upper body workout (Sorry Anytime Fitness, I know I've neglected you). I usually quit using the mixer and switch to hand mixing about halfway through the dry ingredients.
So the next step is the best finger licking part.... and you have to really be careful to just lick what gets on your fingers or on the spoon or the beaters and not ooooops, accidentally drop your whole hand in so that you can sample more of it or you won't have any to bake. You get to scoop out all of the batter and smooth it into a baking dish. I prefer to line the dish with parchment paper or tin foil in the case that I've used all the parchment paper. I try to keep lots of tinfoil on hand to keep out all the aliens and government mind probes that flutter around.... have to take extra precautions living this close to Area 51 (cue spooky music).
So I've scoopedall most of the batter into the dish and sprinkled about 2 cups of chocolate chips on top for some added flair. My friend Chris reintroduced me to the word flair and frankly, I like it. From here life is easy.... pop the concoction into your pre-heated oven, set the timer for 25 minutes.... (keep in mind baking times are subjective, check about five minutes before to make sure you're not burning through like a Nascar driver making up laps)... but you may cook for as much as 45 minutes depending on how much zucchini juice stayed in the shredded zucchini.
So here are the finished products (minus two more loaves of zucchini bread) from just one of the zucchinis. Multiple reports came in rating from amazing to moist....
So, take the oven out for a spin and let me know how your adventure went.
hmmm..............
brownies?
Well, alrighty then, here we go.
I googled zucchini and found a plethora of recipes, but the brownie one was one that I was looking for.
Here are the basics (which we know I'll have to stray away from):
2 cups flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
Preheat oven to 350
Thank goodness for electronic kitchen gadgets. I'd have been shredding for days if I couldn't just cut, quarter and drop into the Black 'n' Decker Quick n Easy. So shredding, shredding, shredding... you get the picture. Then done!
My first step was to cream together the butter and sugar.... Already I started deviating and taking liberties.... instead of using just regular granulated sugar I substituted 1/2 cup of golden brown sugar. I love the way the brown sugar seems to just add depth to it... it's like you take a bite and then the deliciousness from that brown sugar traps you into this sinkhole of heavenly yumminess that you can't escape from until the whole sweet treat is gone.
From there I added the eggs, slowly (that's so hard to even type for someone with the patience of a gnat), one at a time until I had a gooey, golden wheat colored concoction about the consistency of yogurt. Now comes the messy part (YAY!) Carefully add the salt and baking soda and the flour in SMALL increments, like 1/2 cup at most. Your mixer will blow them all around and back and up and make a minor disaster out of your work surface if you aren't careful. It reminds me of construction and dirt roads, but that's another story for another time. Usually if you can get the mixer at the slowest speed it cuts down on the blowback. I also like to drape a slightly damp kitchen towel over the mixer and the bowl to contain some of the dust.
Eventually all of the ingredients will be mixed.... wait, I missed the zucchini. Let's zip back for a minute. You can do this a couple different ways. I've alternated adding the flour mixture with a small amount of zucchini to keep the mix moist and I've also just folded the zucchini in slowly at the end. It just depends on the feel of the batter to you and how strong you're feeling. Baking has become my upper body workout (Sorry Anytime Fitness, I know I've neglected you). I usually quit using the mixer and switch to hand mixing about halfway through the dry ingredients.
So the next step is the best finger licking part.... and you have to really be careful to just lick what gets on your fingers or on the spoon or the beaters and not ooooops, accidentally drop your whole hand in so that you can sample more of it or you won't have any to bake. You get to scoop out all of the batter and smooth it into a baking dish. I prefer to line the dish with parchment paper or tin foil in the case that I've used all the parchment paper. I try to keep lots of tinfoil on hand to keep out all the aliens and government mind probes that flutter around.... have to take extra precautions living this close to Area 51 (cue spooky music).
So I've scooped
So, take the oven out for a spin and let me know how your adventure went.
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