Chocolate and Coffee Zucchini Bread

There is no doubt about it that my daily cup of coffee is a BIG part of my life.  It is usually the one of last things I think of when I go to sleep at night (looking forward to my morning cup) and the first thing I think of when I wake up! So yes, a hot cup of coffee is a delight to me.  I also enjoy baking with coffee as it truly accents the flavor of chocolate so well. And yes chocolate is yet another essential in my life.  Coming across this recipe for Chocolate and Coffee Zucchini Bread was a complete delight!  I found the recipe on Shockingly Delicious - a food blog by the lovely and kind, Dorothy.  I have followed Dorothy's blog for quite awhile now and have always enjoyed her recipes and stories. I was delighted to be assigned to her blog this past month through the Secret Recipe Club.

 

 

I dove right into my assignment to Dorothy's blog making her Best Onion and Mushroom Burgers.  Such. Delicious. Burgers!!! I highly, highly recommend whipping up a batch of these burgers.  Simple recipe for a family week night dinner or a fun and comforting dinner idea for the upcoming BBQ season.  I had all intentions of making these burgers again and photographing them for my Secret Recipe Club assignment but then switched gears drastically when I discovered this chocolate, coffee and zucchini delight of a quick bread.  What a treat! A perfect quick bread that can be made year round with ready available ingredients.  Easy to put together and lovely to eat.  Perfect!

 

 

I added some chocolate chunks and chopped walnuts on top of my bread.   I like to show what may be inside.... :-)

 

Chocolate and Coffee Zucchini Bread

                  (recipe from Shockingly Delicious)

 

Ingredients:

 

1cup grated unpeeled zucchini

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 Tbsp good quality cocoa

1 tsp instant coffee (or espresso) powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup mini (or regular) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups flour

*1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts) - optional

1/4 cup chopped chocolate - optional

 

Directions:

 

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a 9x5 loaf pan - set aside.

 

2. Take grated zucchini and gently roll into 2 layers of paper towels.  This is will help get rid of a lot of the moisture in the zucchini. Set aside.

 

3. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add in eggs, vanilla extract, cocoa and coffee powder, salt and baking soda. Beat all together to combine.

 

4. By hand mix in zucchini and chocolate chips.  Also by hand, gently mix in flour - just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.  Top with chopped nuts and chocolate if you wish. Bake for 55-60 minutes.  *Cover bread with tin foil if the nuts begin to brown. Cool bread and enjoy with a hot beverage of your choice and a lovely book. Happiness!

 

 

 

Happy Chocolate and Coffee Zucchini Bread Baking!

 

 

 

 



An InLinkz Link-up

Coffee Chocolate Chunk Muffins

Love muffins?  How about the flavor of coffee?  Or chocolate?  Even better how about coffee and chocolate together IN a muffin?  YUM right!? Here is a muffin recipe with all that coffee and chocolate yumminess in one place.

In the original recipe for these muffins two sources of coffee flavorings were used - instant coffee granules and coffee flavored liqueur.  Because I did not have the instant coffee I used freshly brewed Starbucks coffee along with Kaluha (YUM!) and coffee extract (which I decided to add to the recipe in an extra effort to give the muffins a nice coffee flavoring paired with the chocolate chunks).   The coffee flavor in the muffins was good (especially after the muffins sat for day and the flavor was able to really set in) but next time I think I will tweek the recipe further with more coffee flavoring so that the essence of coffee is more pronounced.

Over all this recipe was a hit and I wouldn't be sharing it with all of you Sweetie Pies if I didn't LOVE it myself.  You get my drift right?

Coffee Chocolate Chunk Muffins

(recipe was adapted from a food blog called, Diana's Desserts.  I have been delighted to find her blog!)

Ingredients:

6 Tbsp butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 3/4 cup flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

1 Tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 Tbsp boiling water

1 Tbsp Kahlua (or another kind of coffee liqueur)

1 tsp coffee flavoring (optional - I had this in my pantry and added it into the batter in attempt to give a full flavor of coffee..which basically worked but next time I think I will add about a 1/2 tsp more of this flavoring)

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks ("chips" would be just fine if you don't have "chunks" on hand



Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 6-cup jumbo muffin tin with jumbo cupcake liners.

2. In a large bowl beat together butter and sugar at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg, vanilla, dissolved coffee, coffee flavoring and coffee liqueur until well blended.

3. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beating until just combined.  Fold in chocolate chunks.

4. Scoop batter into lined muffin pan cups.  I used an ice cream scoop to do this which worked great!

5. Bake in preheated oven for 22-25 minutes or until centers spring back when lightly pressed.  Just look at these lovely muffins!  Man, do they make me happy!

Serve warm or at room temperature with a nice hot beverage of your choice.  Enjoy!

Happy Coffee Chocolate Chunk Muffins Baking!