Chocolate Zucchini Bread

It's got to be a good recipe to bring me out of blogging hibernation. right?. I'm so excited about this "bread" I had to tell you about it. I put "bread" in quotes because this is really more like chocolate cake. Dark, dense, moist and very chocolatey cake. It would go great with a tall glass of cold milk. I just LOVE it.

I found this recipe while surfing along looking for things to do with zucchini. This specific recipe caught my eye because it looked just like a really good chocolate zucchini bread that I get a bit too often at The Coffee Studio in Andersonville.

Some high points are that it uses 1 1/2 cup of grated zucchini, which is a lot compared to some of the recipes out there. Think about it: if you make the mini loafs, you get 1/2 c of zucchini in each. You can take secret joy in that as your children gobble the it down. Also, this recipe has chocolate chips in it, which is never a bad thing and facilitates the gobbling.

Since I knew the flavor I was trying to approximate, I made a few adaptions to the original recipe on Joy of Baking. I cut down on the cinnamon, using a scant 1/4 teaspoon and eliminated the allspice altogether. I wasn't looking for a spice bread.

So, if you try this recipe, do it my way with just a little cinnamon and without the allspice. You can make one big loaf or divide the batter into 3 mini ones. But don't wait until next summer to make this.

Two more quick things: It's really good cold out of the fridge and leave out the word zucchini when you offer it to your kids.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Making buttermilk biscuits for my son, Sam, is a simple pleasure. It makes me happy that I can sort of spoil him by giving him homemade biscuits. Once you start having them from scratch, you just can't go back to the vacuum tube. I hope when he gets older he'll remember sitting in our yellow kitchen eating warm homemade biscuits.

Buttermilk Biscuits from Joy of Cooking

Position rack in center of oven, Preheat oven to 450*. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

In a large bowl, mix together:
2c flour
2t. baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Cut 5-6 T unsalter butter into flour until largest pieces are the size of peas

Add all at once:
3/4 c buttermilk

Mix with wooden spoon until dry ingredients are moist. With a floured hand, gather the dough into a ball and knead it gently against the sides and bottom of the bowl. Knead just a bit on flour board and pat dough down gently to 1/2 inch thick. Cut with biscuit cutter and place on baking sheet. Brush Biscuits with milk. Bake until golden brown on top and bottom, 10-12 minutes.

Sam's favorite Banana bread

The problem with Banana bread is that you need to have 3 over-ripe bananas to make it. In our household that means planning. It seems we are forever running out of bananas, so it is a rare day when I have extra that need to be used up. I have been trying to over buy bananas and still they get eaten. Finally one day, we had a small bunch of black spotted bananas, perfect for this recipe which makes 1 regular 9 by5 loaf or 3 mini loaves.

Banana Nut Bread from Food and Wine

¾ c. coarsely chopped lightly toasted walnuts (3 oz.)
1 ¼ unbleached, AP flour
1t. baking soda
½ t. cinnamon
½ t. salt
1 c. sugar
2 large eggs
½ c. canola oil
3 medium overripe bananas, mashed (1 ¼ c.)
1 t. pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Coat 9 by 5 inch loaf pan (or 3 mini-loaf pans) with cooking spray. To toast walnuts, spread them in a pie pan and toast in oven for 5 -8 minutes or until fragrant, let cool.

In a med. bowl, whisk the flour with the baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In another bowl, combine the sugar, eggs and oil and beat at high speed until light-colored and creamy. Add the mashed bananas and vanilla to the egg mixture and beat until smooth. Stir in the dry ingredients until blended, fold in the nuts.

Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake in the middle of the oven for 50 minutes (less for mini-loaves), until top is springy and cake tester comes out clean. Let loaf cool in pan for 10 minutes before turning out on to a rack to cool completely.

Make ahead: wrap bread tightly in plastic and refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 2 months

Buttermilk biscuits

I am not southern in any way, but I think I can make biscuits with the best of them. This recipe is from Joy of Cooking. It produces flaky, layered lovelies that are delicious and fun to make. They come together really quickly. Sam is crazy for them and would eat the whole batch if allowed. We like them with Bonne Mama Strawberry Jam. Mmmmm.