Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

As I mentioned last week, in my Traditional Zucchini Bread post, my husband brought home a humongous zucchini from the garden at work, and I've been making zucchini breads ever since.

The kids have been begging me to add chocolate chips to my Traditional recipe, but I just can't. Call me selfish, but I just don't want anything to interfere with my pretty green flecks. So, to appease the little ones, I went in search of something new.

Along came Paula Deen's Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread recipe. I like Paula, and count her as one of my "favorites" on Food Network, but I wasn't really sure if I would like this bread. To be honest, I made it out of pure curiosity – for in addition to the chocolate chips, it also calls for a tablespoon of orange zest.

I couldn't envision the end result in my mouth, but my father used to get us Terry's Chocolate Oranges when we were kids, and I figured it would be similar to one of those. Well, I was right.

This interesting zucchini bread is actually quite delicious. The orange zest is most notable in the crust, which is perfectly crispy when made in a glass loaf pan. And, the chocolate chips are just enough to provide some chocolaty goodness.

My husband looked at me strangely when I told him what was in it – but he shouldn't have been so skeptical. The man himself ate an ENTIRE loaf – that's right, he ate it all. As for the second loaf…well, the kids and I ate it.

 

CHOCOLATE CHIP ZUCCHINI BREAD
Modified slightly from Paula Deen's recipe
Makes 2, 9 by 5" loaf pans

Ingredients:
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 3 eggs
* 2 cups white sugar
* 1/2 cup vegetable oil
* ½ cup applesauce
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 cups grated zucchini, unpeeled
* 1 cup chopped pecans
* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
* 1 tablespoon orange zest

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease 2, 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.

Step 2: Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda. Toss chocolate chips with dry ingredients (this will keep them from falling to the bottom of the pan and burning).

Step 3: In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Step 4: Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool.

Thanks for reading,
Denine

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