Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Bread

As the summer season winds down and the fall creeps in, many of us find ourselves with certain vegetables that simply are not holding their own quite as they did during those hot summer months. For me, zucchini is the main culprit in this department. I love love love zucchini, green, yellow I don't care. I love them all. My first and foremost favorite way to eat them is to simply cut them into wedges (lengthwise) and liberally sprinkle them with salt and pepper then throw them on the BBQ for a grill.

During a recent trip the St. Albert farmers market I came across a giant (in my opinion) yellow zucchini squash. Now, compared to others I realize this one was more like "really big" but to me, it was giant! The point is that I paid $1 for it and it sat around for quite some time before I figured out what to do with it. It was too big to be grilling the way we usually did, and all of my recipes for gluten free zucchini bread had some form of nut flour in them. Since one of our kiddos has a nut allergy and we do not use nuts in our baking, this simply would not work.

I have always loved the blog (and cookbooks) by Nicole Hunn of Gluten Free on a Shoestring. Well, she came through for me once again. Here's the recipe that I made twice to use up all of that giant yellow zucchini squash. And let me tell you, it was delicious!

Chocolate Chip Gluten Free Zucchini Bread

I have actually cut & pasted the entire recipe direct from the glutenfreeonashoestring.com website.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups (210 g) all-purpose gluten-free flour
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend already contains it)
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup (4 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips (use dairy free chips to keep the recipe dairy free, if necessary)
1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (109 g) packed light brown sugar
2 1/8 cups (215 g) grated zucchini
2 eggs (100 g, weighed out of shell) at room temperature
1/4 cup (56 g) neutral oil (like grape seed, canola or vegetable oil)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 325°F. Grease a standard 9-inch x 5-inch loaf pan and set it aside.

In a large bowl, place flour, xanthan gum, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon, and whisk to combine well. Place the chocolate chips in a small bowl, add about 1 teaspoon of the dry ingredients to the chips and toss to combine. Set the chips aside. To the flour mixture, add the granulated sugar and light brown sugar, and whisk to combine (working out any lumps in the brown sugar). Add 1 1/4 cups (125 g) of the grated zucchini to the dry ingredients, and mix gently to combine. Set aside the dry ingredients.


Place the remaining 7/8 cup (88 g) of grated zucchini, the eggs, oil and vanilla in a blender, and pulse until well-blended and beginning to emulsify. Create a well in the center of the bowl of dry ingredients, and add the wet ingredient mixture. The batter will be very wet. Add about 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips and reserved dry ingredients to the batter and mix until the chips are evenly distributed throughout the batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan, and smooth the top with a wet spatula. Scatter the remaining chocolate chips on top and press down lightly to adhere.

Place the loaf pan in the center of the preheated oven. Bake, rotating once, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of each loaf comes out with a few moist crumbs attached (about 50 minutes). Remove from the oven and allow to cool for at least 30 minutes in the loaf pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing and serving.

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