This month for Go Ahead Honey, Naomi challenged us to create recipes for our loved ones that are not only satisfying, but power-packed. With Valentine's Day coming up tomorrow, I couldn't resist Naomi's clever theme. I chose to make chocolate zucchini bread, based on the zucchini bread recipe in my first cookbook. Then I heated it up with cinnamon, nutmeg, and cayenne—spices that warm the body as well as benefit the health of my family.
Cinnamon is one of my favorite spices, and it's particularly great to use in the winter months. It's warming and helpful against colds and congestion. Nutmeg and cayenne, two of my other favorite spices, are known to help detoxify the body, regulate blood pressure and increase circulation. Cayenne also cleans the arteries, reduces inflammation, and fights bacteria, fungus, and allergens. Studies also show that cayenne has cancer prevention abilities. Cinnamon, nutmeg, and cayenne improve digestion.
Happy Valentine's Day my lovelies! ♥, Kelly
Chocolate & Spice Zucchini Bread
Shred 2 zucchini, then squeeze in a kitchen towel to remove as much water as possible.
Add about 1 cup shredded zucchini to mixing bowl with:
1/4 cup coconut oil, liquified
4 room temp eggs (cold eggs will harden coconut oil)
1/2 cup coconut sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp vanilla liquid stevia
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
Mix with electric mixer.
Add to bread pan lined with unbleached parchment paper and greased on the ends. (I cut the paper the length of the pan and drape it down one side, across the bottom and back up the other side, like in this photo by Amy)
Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. Ovens vary, check to see if it's done by inserting a sharp knife in the center.
References:
16 comments:
Kelly,
This chocolate zucchini bread looks AMAZING! I can't wait to try your recipe with the added spices. Thank you for sharing this! Happy (early) Valentine's Day!!
Wow this looks incredible, so dark and rustic... its reminds me of pumperknickel but a sweet version! Can't wait to try this, although I'd use carob chocolate instead. Sounds like a great treat for breakfast with the added goodness from zucchini! Thanks so much for this, especially since I am obsessed with cinnamon and all the warming spices.... So healthy but so yummy! Fabulous recipe
Teenie Foodie
I am so glad to see this is made with coconut flour - not beans (I'm not a bean fan)... I can't wait to try this!! Thanks Kelly :)
Kelly-
I just found out that I can no long have coconut! :( Boo-hoo! :*(
Anyway, do you have any ideas for what I can sub instead of coconut flour in this and many of your other recipes? Thanks so much!!!
Ari
Ooh, I can just imagine my teeth sinking into a thick slice of this with my mid morning cuppa!
I love that all those delicious spices have beneficial qualities too - ain't food great?
Thanks Kelly x x x
Kelly, this looks awesome, love all the warming spices and I bought coconut sugar after reading about it on your blog.
Ariana--
Coconut is a high protein flour and can be subbed nicely for sweet sorghum flour, almond (or any other nut) flour, bean flour (not my favorite but can pass for savory dishes!) or ground sunflower seeds. Hope this helps!
I made this today, and it's wonderful. Thanks so much for this recipe. I love that my loaf looks just like your picture. That doesn't happen to me very often.
I really think I need to get my hands on some coconut flour! I've seen so many inspiring recipes lately, including this one.
Thanks guys!
Teresa, Great! I'm so happy to hear that! :-)
Thanks for this wonderful recipe! I made my own version yesterday and loved it! I posted it on my blog, so you can see what I did:
http://paleofoodie.blogspot.com/2011/02/chocolate-banana-zucchini-cake.html
Kelly - My mom made this recipe and sent it 3000 miles away to me at school. It's really good! For some reason it tastes very salty to us, so we will probably change around the spices to our liking, but it really is great!
Oh my gravy this is good! You can seriously pass this off as real chocolate cake, no problem! I was feeling realy decadent so I made a SF cream cheese frosting for it...wow. So totally good. And the best part? I've eaten it 2 days in a row and I've lost 3 lbs while eating it! THAT is my kind of desert :). Genius recipe, thank you!!
Is there anything I can substitute for the stevia? Thanks! Love your blog :)
This sounds so yummy! I don't have any liquid stevia on hand, but I do have Truvia. Wondering how much I should use. Any suggestions?
Well, it wasn't a fail, but my bread was dry. I'm assuming it was dry because I used Stevia for baking that I found at the health food store instead of the coconut sugar. I'm not having sugar for three more weeks and my husband is a type 2 diabetic. I have more zucchini, so I'm going to try it again only I'm going to use dates instead of Stevia. Another thought I had was to add another tablespoon of coconut oil. I'm wondering what size bread pan was used for the loaf in the picture. My bread was quite flat. I used a 9" bread pan. I don't have an 8". Also, I may have let it bake too long since my husband was keeping an eye on it for me because I left during baking. Love the chocolate!
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