Chocolate zucchini brownies (egg-free)

Last weekend I was lucky enough to again be included in a share of the proceeds of a friend's early morning trip to a local market. I love the fact that everything is so fresh (and cheap!) and also the challenge of using everything without waste.

At first it can be a bit daunting looking at all that lovely produce and wondering where and how to store it and use it wisely, but I've done this a few times now and have a method: divide produce into things that need to be used quickly (like spinach and ripe stone fruit) and those that will last a bit longer stored in a cool place (like pumpkin or a whole watermelon). I then think of recipes to use most of it and make up a shopping list of groceries to go with the list (eg. dried pasta, legumes, condiments etc). It's very satisfying, in a nerdy kinda way :-)

This time, amongst the goodies were a heap of zucchinis (courgettes). We have a couple of favourite savoury zucchini recipes, including this 'green pasta' and zucchini fritters with garlic yoghurt (Bill Granger recipe), but I also wanted to make a sweet recipe. I remembered hearing that zucchini goes well with chocolate (what doesn't go well with chocolate?!!!), so searched and found a couple of egg-free recipes that my allergic big girl could also eat.

The recipe I tried is for a cake but I've renamed it a brownie as I think it's more brownie-like with its dense texture and deep colour. And I'm thinking that next time I might substitute some brown sugar for white to add to the brownie-ness :-) But for now I thought these were pretty good - not overly sweet, but tasty, quick and easy. And hey, hidden veggies in a dish kids love always makes a mum feel good, right?

 

Chocolate Zucchini brownies (recipe from the la receta de la felicidad blog here)

300 g grated zucchini

125 ml vegetable oil

200 g sugar

250 g flour

50 g cocoa powder

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 pinch of salt

 

Preheat oven to 350º F (180 º C)

Line a 20 x 20 cm baking tin with baking paper.

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients with a spoon. Batter will be thick (see pic below).

Spoon into the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely. Dust with icing sugar if desired.

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