It starts at 5am, crying over…
…an entire jar of homemade peach preserves crashing down on the tile floor, splattering tons of sticky, delicious jam all over and scattering itty-bitty bits of glass shards within a 5 foot radius.
No one likes to vacuum and mop at 5am while your oats are getting cold on the stove. 🙁
That’s the kind of day that requires you to make brownies…the healthy kind.
Where you can give yourself permission to eat more than one WITH a glass of milk…and make it 2%. 😉
Granted they aren’t your traditional butter and sugar-filled brownie, they have a fudgy, cakey vibe with the crunch of a chocolate chip in every bite.
Zucchini Brownies
adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 2 cups shredded zucchini
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
How-To
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray a 8″x8″ baking dish with cooking spray. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the chocolate chips
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the baking dish and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
- Set on the pan on a wire rack until cooled completely.
- Cut into squares and enjoy (and especialy good when warmed with a scoop of vanilla fro-yo)! 🙂
I feel like kitchen disasters (like a broken jar of jam on the kitchen floor) always happen before breakfast and coffee while I’m in the kitchen barefoot. That day definitely needed brownies and I love these!
I’m glad I’m not the only one that that happens to. 😉 Brownie day, indeed.
what a great way to sneak in some veggies!!
Bwahahahaha! Been waiting for these. Just finished up the black bean brownies so these are next. (Sorry about the peach preserves!)
Eeee! So good! 🙂
Not the peach preserves! But those brownies definitely look like they could make up for it!
Oh, they did. 😉
I love zucchini brownies! Great photos:)
i’ve had days like that, too, + brownies (or crawling back into bed with a good book for a few minutes) can definitely turn it around. =)
I could totally go for one (or a few) of these brownies right about now – and I love that they have shredded zucchini in them! Definitely a fitting dessert for one of those days.
So sorry to hear about the peach preserves and the broken glass :(. However, I am very excited to try these brownies. I have done the black bean ones but have never heard of zucchini brownies. Definitely making these this week. Thanks!
My goodness, what an awful way to start the day! I actually had a close scare this morning while getting grape jelly for my toast.
I think I’ll just try making some brownies anyway :).
Brownies are a weakness of mine, but I always hate eating and knowing they aren’t very healthy. This recipe looks awesome!
p.s. so sorry you had such an awful morning. blah!
love these! Can’t wait to finally meet you in Nashville
I know! I’m so excited to me you Alison! 🙂 Yayyayyy!
What a terrible way to start the day! I had one of those days months ago, when I woke up and walked down a wet hallway. I discovered a pipe had burst and was flooding the garage. Not fun. I wish I’d had this brownie recipe on that day. It would have made the day a bit sweeter. 🙂
All bad days should be accompanied with brownies. 😉 I hope you got the pumping all fixed…no fun!
Sorry to hear about the lost jam… Glad no one was hurt… I am always paranoid about missing a piece of glass… Please know that the delicious, moist brownies totally made my day!!!
Aww, I’m glad you liked them! 🙂 Sooo good.
Aw, sorry for your mishap. But at least it spawned a delicious new recipe! These look amazing! I will be making these…after my dessert free month is up. Can’t wait!
Yay! They are practically a vegetable. 😉
Best brownies I have EVER had. Hands down. I want more, please!
You got it dude. 😉
oh my goodness, these look good! Definitely the right thing after such a morning!
Oh no!! A kitchen mess is never something I want to clean up at 5am or 5pm. Brownies are definitely deserved after that. Great pics!!
Agreed. No fun. 🙂
the brownies look amazing!
and glass shattering everywhere?
check this:
http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2011/03/it-just-shattered-kitchen-disasters.html
glass, caramel sauce, a sticky, horrible awful mess. 6 mos later i was STILL finding random glass shards and caramel drips inside drawers. nightmare.
Hopefully your situation was handled and all is well now.
Wow…you weren’t kidding! It’s too bad it was the salted caramel…that stuff is amazing! My wasn’t too bad, but I too keep finding little pieces of glass. :-/ Oh, well. Brownies definitely made up for it. 🙂
These look amazing! I would have a hard time NOT eating the batter with it being so “healthy”! Not even gonna tell the hubby that there’s zucchini in these 🙂 Thanks for posting!
Awesome!!! 🙂 Haha…I can’t wait until you try them! Yay!
THESE WERE TO DIE FOR!
SO good & new favorite 🙂
Quick question, Caroline: I noticed that the original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of canola oil… did you replace that with applesauce, or did you add 1/2 cup applesauce along with the oil? I can imagine they would be super fudgy with additional moisture (just the way I like ’em!) but I just wanted to make sure.
Thanks! I can’t wait to make these :).
Yes, I used both the canola oil and the applesauce. I used the applesauce for an added sweetness and fudgy-ness. 🙂 Happy Baking Lauren!
They’re in the oven right now, and I’m contemplating skipping dinner and going straight for the brownies ;).
ooo…dooo ittt! ;-D I bet they smell amazing!
They are delicious! I’m going to include them in my next “blog bites” round-up… I only hope I can photograph them half as well as you did ;).
I noticed there Are no eggs in recipe….should there be?
Nope…no eggs! 😀
I made these brownies and they were amazing! Super moist and full of flavor. I didn’t have an 8 x 8 pan so I doubled the batch and made them in a cake pan. Turned out great! I wanna try it with white chocolate chips next time. I used zucchini that was froze from the last year and measured out in 1 cup portions. I made sure to pour all of the water that had separated in the freezing process. Made them for work with a crew of 20+ guys and not a one knew they were so healthy 😀
Thanks so much for the recipe!!!
Yay! I’m so glad you liked them! What a great idea to pre-freeze the zucchini, too. Thank you for sharing! Best, Caroline
I was excited to try these as I had tried the chocolate beet cake and it was awesome and totally fooled the meat and potato people in the crowd.
I made this recipe a few times the first time as written and then I ended up using 3/4 of a cup apple sauce and 1/4 cup canola oil and you couldn’t tell the difference. I also added 1/2-1 tsp vinegar to make them a bit fluffier and liked this addition. Great recipe, thanks chocolate and carrots!
I’m so happy to hear that! Great modifications, too. I’m going to have to try them! 😀 Thank you so much for the feedback, Lindsay!