flourless chocolate zucchini walnut bread

Hi, I'm Nancy and I'm probably the most impatient girl on the planet. AKA baking is the literal worst, because I hate waiting for things to bake.

But hey, I'm on summer break and there's really nothing better I have to do with my time. And since we have a bunch of walnuts that are on the border of going stale, I decided to bake some Paleo zucchini bread with lots of chocolate & lots of nuts. 

This makes for the perfect snack, dessert, or even breakfast. You can use it as a yogurt topping, or you can smear some nut butter on it and heat it up and drool over the ooey gooeyness. Or you can eat it as is, because chocolate.

Tip: This tastes great warm (hello melted chocolate!!!) but if you put it in the fridge, it becomes denser and fudgy and is basically like an amazing cross between a brownie and fudge. I tried it with plain Greek yogurt and frozen pomegranate seeds and was in heaven. You're welcome.

No sugar added (other than whatever's in your chocolate) and very minimal oil PLUS absolutely no flour. Enjoy babes!

Flourless Chocolate Zucchini Walnut Bread

serves: 12 | time: 1 hour | paleo

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup natural nut butter of choice (I used homemade walnut butter)
• 1 cup packed shredded drained zucchini (about 1/2 a large zucchini)
• 1 1/2 banana (add more if you want it to be sweeter)
• 1/4 cup loose shredded carrots
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup chopped dark chocolate (72% or higher; feel free to use more!)
• 1 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
• 3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tsp flaxseed meal (we ground our own from whole flaxseeds)
• 1 tbsp plain Greek yogurt or non-dairy yogurt
• 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp honey, optional (I found that it was sweet enough without this, but you can add if you want a more dessert-y type bread)
• Pinch kosher salt (may be omitted if your nut butter is salted)

directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line a 8x8 pan with parchment paper, aluminum foil, or grease with coconut oil.
2. Combine wet ingredients: Shredded zucchini, shredded carrots, nut butter, vanilla extract, cocoa powder, bananas (I microwaved these since I used frozen bananas, but if using fresh bananas, either microwave or mash with a fork), coconut oil, and yogurt, and mix until smooth.
   Tip: You can use a food processor to chop the zucchini and carrots so you don't have to hand-shred them with a grater!
3. Add in the dry ingredients: flaxseed meal, baking soda, cinnamon, cacao powder, salt; mix until combined.
   Tip: Taste the mixture right now as there's no egg in it yet and adjust the sweetness accordingly — if it's not sweet enough, add honey or more bananas. If too sweet, add yogurt.
4. Add the 2 eggs and mix carefully until combined — do not overmix.
5. Fold 3/4 of the chopped dark chocolate and walnuts in; save the other 1/4 for topping.
6. Pour the mixture into the pan; it should be thinner than normal bread dough — about the same consistency as banana bread (thick but still liquid-y). Top with the leftover dark chocolate and walnuts.
7. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the top has set.
8. Wait for 10 minutes to cool, then slice and enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Running to the Kitchen.