Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

I don’t like change.

After about a year of careful thinking and planning I bought a new car. To be honest with you, if I could have kept my 11 year old Honda CRV with 145,000 miles on it forever then I probably would have. The reality is that I have a long commute to work, it was old, and it was time to upgrade. Change can be a good thing, especially when it comes to buying a shiny new ride, except getting that new ride means that I had to make a big decision and I’m not good at that.

I can barely decide what to order for dinner at a restaurant, let alone figure out which car I will presumably have for the next 10 years. I usually choose my dinner based on what my husband orders but I’m guessing that won’t work with picking a car. Choose wisely, T. Who do I think I am? India Jones choosing which cup was the Holy Grail? Yes, I was literally this dramatic in real life. (Thank goodness I have a very patient husband.)

Anyway, I handed over the keys to my trusty CRV (with tears in my eyes… that’s normal, right?) and bought the Nissan Rogue. (Which I guess means I can actually choose a car based on what my husband orders, since he’s driven Nissans his whole life.) I’ve only been driving it for a few days so it’s still very new. I have that “new car syndrome.” You know, that feeling where a car isn’t really yours. It almost feels like you’re driving a rental. Everything is sort of foreign to you, you drive extra carefully, a bit slower, you park in the spot that’s as far away as possible, and you keep playing with buttons because you can’t remember what they do. Remember that scene from Clueless when the girls drive on to the highway by accident? That’s sort of me right now. Have the cars in the other lanes always been this close to me? Yes, yes, they have. There I go being dramatic again.

One change that I don’t mind making in life is switching up a classic recipe. I love my zucchini bread but this time I omitted the nuts, reduced the cinnamon, and added chocolate chips to it. Chocolate is always a good idea. 😉 You can’t go wrong with either the original recipe or this one. I really love both. (But let’s face it, I’m a chocoholic so I’m pretty sure I’ll always choose this one over the original.)

By the way, in case you’re wondering, you do not taste the zucchini. I figure the healthy veggie helps to counteract all the chocolate I added. 😉

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread Recipe
(Makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (equivalent to 6.4 ounces)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 and 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup oil
1 and 1/2 cups zucchini, shredded

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan and set it aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set the dry ingredients aside.
In a small bowl, combine about 1 tablespoon of the dry ingredients and a 1/2 a cup of chocolate chips. This will help prevent (not necessarily eliminate) the chips from sinking to the bottom of the loaf when it cooks. This is the chocolate chip mixture.
In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and oil.
Gradually mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
Stir in the shredded zucchini. Note that if your zucchini is too moist, then lay the shredded zucchini in between paper towels and gently press down to remove some of the water.
Stir in the chocolate chip mixture.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.
Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top of the batter. This is another method to help spread out the chocolate chips in the loaf.
Bake the loaf for about 55 minutes or until a tester inserted comes out clean.