Summer usually finds many home gardeners people with an over-abundance of zucchinis, and if you’re a mindful shopper, you’ll notice that they’re almost giving them away at any local grocery store. Summer makes zucchinis grow like weeds, and even those with hardly a green thumb in their body can get a few to grow with minimal effort. We didn’t plant zucchinis this year, because we hardly had time to plant a few rows of lettuce before we were overrun by a pack of screaming kids, and had to call it a day. But we have been receiving our steady supply of yellow and green squash from our CSA produce boxes, and I’m always trying to come up with new ways for us to go through them. Confession, my kids hate squash of any type, so it’s often hard for Art and I alone to go through the amount we seem to find on our hands these days.
But with a little ingenuity, I was able to get through our last batch by completely tricking my kids into eating them. I made these beauties the night before we left on our summer road trip up to Cambria, and figured they’d be a great little snack or breakfast food while we were hanging out in our hotel room. Since kids tend to wake up starving, and I didn’t want us to feel rushed to get out the door each morning to get them fed, I packed these and some yogurt tubes for a quick and simple breakfast to tide them over each day. Did the trick and hit the spot. Plus, they’re sorta super healthy, made with raw cacao powder, rich in nutrients, and whole wheat flour so they get plenty of healthy grains first thing in the morning. They turned out moist and fluff, and while they aren’t too sweet, and definitely wouldn’t pass as a brownie or anything, they are a perfectly acceptable morning treat.
Vegan Chocolate & Zucchini Muffins
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
- ⅓ cup raw cacao powder
- ½ cup sweetener like sucanat or coconut sugar
- 1.5 tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 mashed ripe banana
- ½ cup applesauce
- ¼ cup Almond Breeze unsweetened milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup shredded zucchini
Instructions
- Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. In a separate bowl, mash banana and stir in applesauce, then add in almond milk, vanilla and zucchini. Combine wet ingredients by folding gently into dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Place in oiled or paper lined muffin tins and fill half way. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes, sticking with a toothpick to check when baked through.
This post was sponsored by the nice folks at Almond Breeze, but all opinions are my own! Thanks for supporting the companies who allow me to support this site.
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