Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I found these zucchini in my parents' garden Monday afternoon.  Two plants grew healthy this summer in the sunny patch and they're starting to produce yields big enough to enjoy.  My mom couldn't contain her excitement when she saw these babies in her garden, she could hardly wait to pick more of them.

The day I picked those zucchini, I saw a post from King Arthur Flour's Facebook page about the double chocolate zucchini bread.  I was salivating looking at the picture that I determined I would make that the next day.  Even I couldn't contain my excitement about making a zucchini bread!

There're a lot of recipes using zucchini and chocolate but I have to say that this one is one of the best.  The amount of zucchini needed isn't outrageous (I hate grating zucchini), the chocolate flavor is really there, the bread isn't overly dry or wet, the crumb was tight, and the level of moistness is just right.  What I did differently were using half bittersweet chocolate and semisweet chocolate in the bread and save 1/4 cup to sprinkle on top of the bread; otherwise everything stayed the same.  Baking time was slightly reduced for my oven, it was around 60 minutes that the bread was done.  And I smeared some Nutella on my bread, mmm....

A bread like this makes me smile; it makes me think of a wonderful summer weather, the harvest from our own garden, and how connected we are to the food we grow ourselves.

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Yield one 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf



2 large eggs

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon espresso powder, optional

1/3 cup cocoa powder or Dutch-process cocoa

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups shredded, unpeeled zucchini, gently pressed on a colander over a bowl or sink to release some of its moisture

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips (a combination of bittersweet and semisweet), save the 1/4 cup for sprinkling on top of bread



Preheat the oven to 350°F; lightly grease an 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs, honey, oil, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add the salt, baking soda, baking powder, espresso powder, cocoa, and flour, mixing until well combined. Stir in the zucchini and chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Scatter the reserved 1/4 cup of chocolate chips on top of the batter.

Bake the bread for 65 to 75 minutes, until the loaf tests done (a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center will come out clean, save for perhaps a light smear of chocolate from the melted chips).

Remove the bread from the oven, and let it cool for 10 to 15 minutes before turning it out of the pan onto a rack.  Cool completely before slicing; store well-wrapped, at room temperature.

Summer Ice Pops: Strawberry Mint

So here's the recipe for the strawberry pops. Made with mint simple syrup and fresh Oregon strawberries, the pops look so bloody red! They taste amazing though, the mint is very subtle, the strawberries really shine.  To mix two different flavors, freeze half of the first mixture about 1 hour, then add the second mixture.  Now I'm never gonna go back buying store bought ice pops anymore, this is way healthier and fresher!

Strawberry Mint Ice Pops

Makes approximately 10 3 fluid ounce pops

1 cup sugar
1 cup water
1-2 pounds strawberries
4-5 fresh mint leaves

To make simple syrup, gently heat sugar and water, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves. Steep the syrup with mint, remove from heat; let cool.

Rinse and mash strawberries with a potato masher until smooth. Add 1/3-1/2 cup simple syrup for every cup of pureed syrup, taste as you go, adding more fruit or simple syrup as needed. Note: keep it a bit sweeter because the pop tends to lose sweetness when frozen.

Pour mixture into molds, add stick, and freeze.

Source: adapted from People's Pops by Joel Horowitz and Nathalie Jordi

Summer Ice Pops: Pineapple Ginger Coconut

Okay, so when a grocery store had a sale on pineapples, what do you do?  If you're like me, you'd run to the store and bought more than one pineapple for sure.  Fred Meyer had $1/pineapple this week so I had to have it; in my household, pineapple is a favorite fruit.  I bought one for eating fresh and another one for making pineapple pops.  I have ready a ginger simple syrup in my fridge, something that now I know it's so easy to make, I must have some ready in the fridge for making something sweet.

My flavor combo of this week for the pops is pineapple, ginger, and coconut.  The recipe is a very easy one:  I put one whole pineapple in the blender, then I combined it with ginger simple syrup to make it slightly sweeter than normal.  The sugar will mellow when the pops are stored in the freezer, so you should make your pops always a tad too sweet.  The recipe for the simple syrup here will be most likely used all because it's thicker than a regular simple syrup.  Since I have not bought any popsicle molds, I had to resort using a 3-ounce paper cups again (like I did with this banana blueberry gelato).  I really don't mind using the paper cups though I'm putting popsicle mold in my wish list nevertheless.  I see myself making pops every summer now.

I like to steep the ginger in my syrup for a day or two so the ginger really sings in the pops :)  There's a bit of heat from the ginger that's refreshing yet it's still subtle enough, and with toasted shredded, sweetened coconut in the pops, these add texture and bring more of that tropical island kick to the pops.

And along with these pops, I made strawberry pops that has been mixed with mint simple syrup which was also fabulous.  On some cups I put these two together and they came out very pretty and vibrant.  The recipe for the strawberry pops will be in the next post, don't you worry.  Now, who don't want to have these all summer long?!

Pineapple Ginger Coconut Ice Pops

Makes about 10 3-fluid ounce pops



Ginger Simple Syrup:

1/2 cup water

1 cup sugar

5-6 thin slices, peeled, fresh ginger

Combine water, sugar, and sliced ginger pieces in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Heat until sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally.  Keep syrup in a refrigerator after it cools down.  It is best to make this one or two days ahead because the flavor will be more pronounced.



Pineapple mixture:

1 medium size pineapple, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces



About 1 cup toasted, shredded sweetened coconut



Put pineapple pieces in a blender and puree until smooth.  Add syrup to pureed pineapple, 1/2 cup at a time; make sure the mixture is very sweet.  Pour pineapple mixture into cups or ice pop molds, add stick when partly frozen if using paper cups.  Freeze until solid.

For a variation:  add toasted coconut in the cup/mold and after the cup/mold is filled.

Start of the Summer

Where has the sun gone today?  It was drizzling, the sky turned grey, and it was cold this morning that it dampened our spirits a bit.  My son and I were to go on a bike ride right after breakfast but since it was drizzling, we decided that we would bake cookies first.  My son has shown a great interest in cooking and baking that I think this summer he's going to do them more often.

He chose a cookie recipe that was easy enough for him to do which was a thumbprint cookies.  I have a strawberry-lemon marmalade and peach-cherry-almond conserve that I think are perfect for the cookies.  We did it good today; he was grinning from ear to ear posing before his creation.  Afterwards, we went bike riding to the park. This bike ride has become our form of exercise of the day that I want to keep it all summer long. I sometimes even add a 4-mile walk at the track, just like what I did today.

On my last post I wrote that I made strawberry pie, but sadly that pie didn't turn out as good as I thought.  The filling was weeping out of the crust when I cut a slice.  I was very disappointed.  My feeling was perhaps I left the strawberries too long with the sugar and cornstarch and it became too juicy.  I should have used ClearJel for the filling, oh well...  From the outside, it had a promising look; the crust was tender and crumbly.  But no matter how bad it looks in the inside, it was great eaten with homemade whipped cream.  My son suggested buying Reddi-Whip while we're buying groceries, but I couldn't bear buying it since I knew whipping heavy cream wasn't hard to do!

Since I have some leftover crepes, they became my son's power breakfast this morning; crepes, strawberries, and whipped cream.  Hmmmm...delish!

Strawberry-Banana Crepe Cake

Strawberry season is officially here!

From my parents' garden, we harvested small but big in taste strawberries.  The plants are still producing quite a big yield every summer, enough for a week's consumption.  Every day my mom would be in the backyard harvesting the berries.  I have a box of strawberry plants as well in my backyard but due to lack of sun, they never really produce enough berries for us.  I'm thinking of replacing those with something else in the future.  But my herbs thrive in the box garden well enough that I'm happy to have fresh herb every spring to use in my kitchen.

Yesterday I decided to pick strawberries at Lee Farms in Tualatin.  My plan was to make strawberry jam and to freeze the rest that we can't eat anymore.  Last year I made some jams that I ended up giving to friends and family that I didn't have enough for myself.  This year I want all for myself and those who want it, should pay for it :D  I drove to the field with my son late afternoon though the sun was hot but  it's still bearable.  Being in the field made me happy, it gave me the feeling that warmth of summer is here to stay.  The strawberries were huge and they're red on the inside too; this is how ripe strawberries should look like.

My son begged me to make strawberry pie and I also planned to make a breakfast treat for Father's Day, so even though we picked more strawberries than what we needed, they're off to good use.  Last night I made the crepe batter, stored it in the fridge afterwards, and this morning I cooked the crepe.  The crepe cake is consisted of layers of crepe with dollops of Nutella, sliced strawberries, and sliced bananas.  When I cut the cake to serve, the Nutella was oozing between the layers and they're so delicious.  Everyone agreed that this was a yummy breakfast and we all polished the whole cake in no time.  I'm dreaming of making a different combo next time...

Strawberry-Banana Crepe Cake

Serves 4



Crepe Batter:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large egg and 1 egg yolk

1 1/4 cups whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) melted butter, for the pan



Filling:

Chocolate-hazelnut spread, such as Nutella

Strawberries, sliced

Bananas, sliced



Confectioners' sugar



For crepes:  In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar, and salt until combined.  Add eggs and yolk; process until blended.  With the motor running, slowly pour in milk and vanilla; process until smooth.  Refrigerate batter for 15 minutes, or up to overnight.

Warm a 9-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat.  Add just a bit of butter to coat the pan.  Pour about 3 tablespoons of batter into hot pan; pick up pan and swirl it around to evenly spread batter.  Place back on heat; cook for 30 seconds (I like to cook until edges are starting to get brown).  Using a spatula and fingers, flip crepe; cook for 30 seconds.  Crepe should be almost firm to the touch and spotty brown.  Transfer to a cutting board.  Repeat process with remaining batter to make about 10 crepes.  (You may have extra crepes; add them to the stack.)

Preheat broiler.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Layer two crepes on prepared pan.  Spread a thin layer of Nutella onto the top crepe; add a few strawberry and banana slices.  Top with another crepe and layer more Nutella, strawberry, and banana.  Repeat this process with remaining crepes.  Top with a final crepe.  Place baking sheet under broiler until cake is warmed through.  Sprinkle cake with confectioners' sugar.



Source:  Debbie Macomber's Christmas Cookbook