DOUBLE CHOCOLATE ZUCCHINI BREAD, that’s what.
We came home from our anniversary trip last weekend with, amongst other things, a car full of produce. We picked close to 20lbs of blueberries at Quonquont Farm, stocked up on pickling cukes at Thomas Farm (4 for $1 so obviously I bought way too many), then hit up Atlas Farm for heirloom tomatoes, a case of basil to turn into pesto, several cabbages for making sauerkraut and kimchi, and so much zucchini.
Obviously, my first choice was to make something chocolatey with all that zucchini, so here we are.
This double chocolate loaf just might be my all-time favorite way to eat zucchini bread; it’s made with olive oil and whole wheat flour for an added boost of nutrients, kept tender and moist from an entire shredded zucchini, is rich and dark from a half cup of cocoa powder in the batter; the top is studded with a craggy, mountainous top of chocolate chunks, which, in this summer heat, stay slightly soft and almost gooey on top of the bread for days.
Chocolate chunks on top of a loaf > chocolate chunks in a loaf. Don’t fight it.
After testing the recipe once with maple syrup as the sole sweetener and finding it sunken in and a little too moist inside, I swapped the maple syrup out for my favorite sugar cane product: sucanat, aka natural sugar cane (which is still light brown with hints of molasses flavor, thanks to a minimal refinement process), and the texture of this loaf is spot on. Still tender and moist, but not remotely wet. Coconut sugar or straight up unbleached/organic cane sugar works too, if you don’t have sucanat…but if you’ve never tried it, you really need to! Its our favorite sugar to use and I love that it’s less refined than traditional cane sugar. This is the one I buy (<–affiliate link), though I also see it on the shelves of most grocery stores, too.
I suppose technically you could make this for dessert, but let’s be honest here, I’m eating it for breakfast. Preferably slathered with some peanut or almond butter, with a latte on the side.
And, I think you should too.
This recipe is made in 1-bowl with 10 simple ingredients and can be out of the oven and in your stomach in under an hour. Plus, it tastes like a chocolate dream loaf, and, if needed, there are vegan and gluten-free options in the recipe notes!
So, grab yourself a zucchini and let’s do this thing!
If you make this recipe, let me know how it turns out! Leave a comment below or take a picture of your loaf and share it with me on Instagram! I love seeing my recipes in your kitchen!
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