Chocolate Cardamom Zucchini Bread

Would you believe that I've never eaten zucchini bread before in my life? For some reason or other, we just never made it at our house. Pumpkin bread, banana bread, and even mango bread appeared on our kitchen table, but not a single zucchini bread. Well, I simply had to remedy that especially since I keep seeing one tempting blog picture after another and hearing everyone shout its praises. Plus, it didn't hurt that I had a couple bags of zucchini that I wanted to use up.

So, I got out my ingredients and went to work. Since I wasn't sure if I would like the taste of zucchini bread, I decided that I would go with a chocolate version of it. After all, you can't go wrong with chocolate. The recipe I chose also had cardamom in it, which I absolutely love. I couldn't wait to see how it would turn out.



I halved the recipe and it made enough for one mini loaf, just perfect for me. It baked up into one beautifully dark chocolaty bread that was so fudgy and so rich that you'd never even guess it was also chock full of healthy, nutritious zucchini. So go ahead and indulge and call this your serving of veggies for the day.

Chocolate Cardamom Zucchini Bread (adapted from Vanilla Basil)

2 eggs
1/2 c. oil
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. cardamom (this amount is appropriate if you freshly grind the cardamom - if not, go ahead and use 1 full teaspoon)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 c. grated zucchini

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease one large loaf pan or two mini loaf pans. Beat the eggs. Add the oil, sugars, and vanilla and mix well. Sift in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Toss in zucchini and stir to combine.

Pour into the pan(s) and bake 55-60 min. (large) or 40-45 min. (minis), or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 min. then run a knife around the edges and invert to remove. Let cool completely on a rack before slicing.

Note: You can also add chocolate chunks, macadamia nuts, and espresso powder to this like Vanilla Basil did, but I opted to leave them out.