Recipe: Zucchini Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

I stumbled upon this Martha Stewart's Zucchini Nut Cookie recipe and decided that it would be fun to play around with it and make some cookies for a barbeque that I'm going to this weekend.  I figured this would be a nice and healthy, yet delicious treat. However, I did decide to change up the recipe some, mostly because I wanted chocolate and also because I didn't have brown sugar.  I think the brown sugar helps mask the green color from the zucchini. I didn't want the cookies to be green (since I didn't want people to ask me why they were green) so I decided to add coccoa powder in addition to the chocolate chips. The original recipe also has a cream cheese filling for the cookies but I decided to skip that as well.

Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

They're not super pretty, but they were utterly delicious!

1 cup finely grated zucchini
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1 tbs coccoa powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350°. Sift the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bown. In another bowl beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy and then beat in the egg and
vanilla.
Add the flour mix into the butter mixture. Add in the zucchini, oats and chocolate then refrigerate for about an hour or until firm.
Drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. The original recipe says to use a 1 1/2 inch ice cream scoop to help the process which holds about 2 tablespoons of batter, but I wanted my cookies a little smaller, so I just used a tablespoon.
Bake until edges are golden, about 17 minutes.
Let cool and then eat some deliciousness.

Update:  The cookies were a big hit; moist and delicious! And no one believed that they were made with zucchini!  I'm definitely going to be making them again sometime soon.

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Red Velvet cupcakes

I absolutely love Paula Deen and I love her recipe for Red Velvet Cake. It comes out wonderfully moist and delicious. Here's my version as cupcakes with chocolate chips and a cream cheese frosting!

Homemade Chocolate Chip Red Velvet Cupcakes before frosting

For the Red Velvet Cupcakes:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1-2 tablespoons of semi-sweet cocoa powder
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups olive oil (or another lighter oil such as canola or sunflower oil)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 (1-ounce) bottle red food coloring (but you only need a few drops)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 a package of semi sweet or dark chocolate chips

For the cream cheese frosting:
1/2 cup margarine
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1/4 to 1/2 a box confectioners' sugar (depending on your taste), sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla


For the Red Velvet Cake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line your cupcake tins.

Cream the sugar and eggs together in a large bowl.

Sift the flour, baking soda and cocoa into the sugar and egg mixture. As far as I'm concerned, the more cocoa you add, the better the cupcakes will taste and the darker your red velvet will look (I've occassionally been so overzealous that my red velvet has wound up simply looking like chocolate cake).

In a separate bowl mix the oil, vinegar, food coloring (add until you get the desired redness, remembering that the coco will later make it appear richer), and vanilla together. Add slowly to the other bowl along with the buttermilk, beating continuously until well blended. Blend in the chocolate chips. The more the better!

Once smooth with no lumps, pour the batter into the cupcake tins about 3/4 of the way full. Tap to even out the batter and release air bubbles. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting:
Cream the margarine and cream cheese well when at room temperature. Add sugar and beat until mixed but not to the point that it loses its shape. Mix in the vanilla and put in the fridge until ready for use. I like to put the frosting into a ziplock bag, cut of the tip and decorate the cupcakes with a large swirl pattern. Sprinkle the finished cupcakes with a light dusting of cocoa powder.

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Banana Muffins

3 cups flour

½ tsp salt
1½ tsp baking powder
1½ tsp baking soda
1 cup sugar (+ 1/2 cup to taste)
½ cup unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 cup heavy cream
5 - 6 very ripe bananas
1 1/4 cup chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two muffin pans with cupcake liners.

Sift or whisk flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas and then cream with the sugar and butter. Mix in the eggs one at a time and then add the cream slowly.

Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture until incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips. Fill each muffin tin 3/4 full.

Bake muffins for about 18 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

-Raspberry Truffle

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Zucchini bread

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch of salt
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup chocolate chips
(optional 1/2 cup chopped walnuts)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease pan with butter.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. In another bowl blend egg, oil, milk and vanilla extract. Stir into dry ingredients until just moist then fold in zucchini, chocolate chips and walnuts.
3.Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.

--Raspberry Truffle