This brownie recipe was born after I planted way too many zucchini plants in my tiny backyard garden. My dad warned me not to plant more than two; they’ll get very big, he said. I planted four. They seemed innocent enough until about mid-July when they turned into rampant monster plants that were taking over my garden and yielding dozens of zucchini per plant. Lesson learned. I discovered that zucchini works in everything from meatballs to these delicious brownies. These are cake-like, dense brownies loaded with chocolate chips. It’s important not to over-bake these to ensure they retain the ooey-gooey goodness we all love about brownies.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups finely grated zucchini
• 1 cup chocolate chips + more for sprinkling

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F and grease an 8×13 inch brownie pan with nonstick spray or line pan with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the vegetable oil, eggs, sugar and vanilla.
4. Add the liquid ingredients and the grated zucchini to the dry ingredients.  Mix until just combined.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips.
6. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan and sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top of the batter, if desired.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes. The middle of the baked brownies should be slightly soft.  Do not overbake!
8. Allow brownies to cool for about 20 minutes before slicing.