Rolo Cookies and Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

Rolo Cookies and Chocolate Dipped Pretzel Rods for the Cookie Plates this year.

For those of you interested in some healthy recipes: I promise I'll be back to soups and stews and hearty meals soon. This time of year gets me. Sweets. And, this recipe has ingredients that I don't, as a general rule, eat. The rolos have all manner of high fructose corn syrup-y things that I abhor. This time of year, well, I let it slide a tiny bit. We'll survive!

I've just barely made it happen. 4 kinds of treats this year. All wrapped up and pretty. I wanted to do gingerbread people and sugar cookies with Abby, but we'll just have to do it after Christmas and make it a New Year's tradition!
The rolo cookies should really be classified as a candy since that's what's inside. Our friend Anne makes these by the seeming hundreds. She commented on my last post with this advice to keep me from eating them all: "I have a trick for making rolo cookies less dangerous (tempting). Make them your signature cookie. Bake them all the time. This works especially well if you have a bunch of college kids to bake for."
Unfortunately, I don't have a bunch of college kids to bake for and if I baked them all the time, I'd eat them all the time! HA! Thanks for letting me take over this tradition Anne, we miss you out here.
I baked them in tiny muffin cups because I didn't have parchment paper on hand. It makes them look festive and less like a cookie that you could eat 25 of and more like a candy that you can eat 25 of. . .normal people only eat a couple. I guess I'm not normal. They are so tasty, I can't stop! I made another batch for gifts and wrapped them up in cellophane as soon as they were done cooling to keep myself from eating them. That worked.

So, the recipe:

Rolo Chocolate Cookies

4 packages rolo chocolates (about 8 pieces in each roll)
1 cup all purpose flour
½ cup cocoa powder
½ tsp. baking powder
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
¼ cup granulated sugar (optional) I don't think this is optional

Steps:

Place ROLOS in freezer for at least 6 hours. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa and baking powder until combined and no lumps remain. In a large bowl, beat butter until creamy. Beat in brown sugar and vanilla, then egg, until smooth. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture until just combined. Let dough stand for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180oC). With hands, roll 1 tbsp (15 ml) of dough for each cookie into balls and place on a waxed paper-lined baking sheet. If using, place granulated sugar in a shallow dish. Bake no more than 15 cookies at a time and remove 1 package of ROLOS at a time from the freezer. Press each ball of dough into about a 2-inch (5 cm) circle. Place a ROLO in centre; wrap dough around ROLO so it is evenly covered. Seal well so there are no cracks. Roll into a ball. Roll in sugar, if desired. Place about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake in centre of oven for about 8 minutes or until dry to the touch. Cool on sheet on rack.

Makes about 40 cookies. (I only get about 32 cookies. . . no matter how I try to get 40!).

Nutrients per cookie:

About 95 Calories, 1 g Protein, 4 g Fat, 14 g Carbohydrates.

Ginger Brandy Cookies

Day 3 of the one batch a day plan. Day 2 was Rolo Chocolate cookies. We ate them all. ALL of THEM. There were 40! Oh my. I can't even admit to how many people have been through my house to help Tom and I. It was a VERY small number of people. And, add the fact that Tom was gone through most of the time they were here and add too that I didn't let Abby have any. That means that I am about 25 rolo cookies bigger. I'll make another batch and take photos and then post the recipe.

So, Ginger Brandy Cookies from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts.
My only note: don't roll the cookies in the sugar. . . just use a sifter or a small tea ball to sprinkle the sugar on. It's easier and makes for less pasty powdered sugar on the cookies.


Ginger Brandy Cookies
(yields 48)

Dough:
1/2 c. butter, at room temperature
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. unsulphured molasses
1 egg
2 c. unbleached white flour
pinch of salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 Tblsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 Tblsp. brandy

Topping:
3 Tblsp. confectioners' sugar

With an electric mixer or food processor, cream the butter and
2/3 c. of the sugar until light and well blended. Add molasses
and egg and beat well. In separate bowl sift flour, salt, baking
soda, ginger, cinnamon and cloves. Alternate adding the dry
ingredients and brandy to the wet ingredients, stirring well after
each addition. Form dough into a ball and chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray or oil baking sheets.

Spread the topping sugar on a plate. Shape dough into
1-inch balls, roll each ball in sugar, and place on
baking sheets. Bake for about 12 minutes, until just
firm and a bit crisp around the edges. Remove cookies to
a rack and let cool.

Cranberry Cornmeal Biscotti

I make holiday cookies for a very small handful of people. I don't have a great system down that has me making dough in October, freezing it until November, baking and freezing the cookies before Thanksgiving and then plating them in December. Someone, somewhere on the blogs does something like that. It sounds like a great plan, but I'm just not interested in making shit-tons of cookies, or spending months doing it. Also, I would eat them all. So, the week before Christmas, it is a frenzy of baking around here. I'd like to be one of those people who has plates of cookies for the neighbors, or even my good friends. No. I just make a few kinds and give them to my mom's 4 best friends. All women who have been so good to me throughout my life. I usually do a little something knitted or crafted for them too. You can see that part of the gift over here.
Anywhoo, since I was off gallivanting in the North Cascades last weekend and have been nursing a very sore back from the fender bender last week, well, I've only made one kind and they are slowly being eaten.
I found this recipe in Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates. I like the slightly nutty crunch of the cornmeal and that they are sweet, but not so sweet that I couldn't eat a dozen of them for breakfast. Not that I've done that. . . yet. Don't be put off by having to bake them twice. That effort is easily made up for by how quickly the rest of it comes together. I might dip these in chocolate when I do my chocolate dipped pretzels later in the week.

Cranberry Cornmeal Biscotti
(notes by me in parenthesis)

1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped (a food processor does this quickly and easily)
2 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup cornmeal (I use stone-ground cornmeal not the really gritty stuff in the box)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly oil a baking sheet.

In a bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer or a wire whisk. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Fold in the cranberries and set aside.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture. Dust your hands lightly with flour and shape the dough into a ball. (Don't skip the flour on the hands, the dough is very sticky).

Use a spatula and your floured hands to scoop the dough onto the oiled baking sheet. Form the dough into a 12x3 inch-diameter log shape; then press down on the log, flattening it to a thickness of about an inch. The length and width of the flattened log should be about 14x4 inches. (try and make it rectangular and evenly thick, that way you don't have whimpy edge biscotti or raw middle pieces).

Bake on the top shelf of the oven for 25-30 minutes, until the dough is firm and just slightly brown. Remove from the oven and transfer the log to a cutting board. When cool enough to handle, slice crosswise into 3/4 inch pieces (using a bread knife makes this easier and less messy). Lay each biscotti cut side down on the baking sheet. Bake for about 5 minutes on each side, using tongs to gently flip them. (If you like your biscotti hard, bake a little longer, otherwise, they end up a little chewy and soft, but in a good way. Just make sure they don't burn.) Cool on a rack.

When completely cooled, store in an airtight container. Biscotti will easily keep for a couple of weeks.
Makes 14 biscotti.

Not white flour thanks.

For those of you hoping to avoid the hydrogenated fats, High fructose corn syrup and lard in your pie this holiday season! A pie crust for you!

Whole-Wheat Pie Crust: the new Whole grains cookbook
makes 1 pie crust for 9-inch pan

1 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tbsp. cold unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. rice vinegar
3 Tbsp. ice water

In a medium bowl, mix flour and salt. using large holes on a box grater, grate butter into flour mixture. With your fingertips, work butter into smaller pieces for about one minute.

Mix vinegar with ice water, and sprinkle over flour mixture while tossing it with a fork. Try to press mixture together and if it's too dry, sprinkle in more water, a teaspoon at a time.

When it just comes together, form dough into a ball and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Chill for 20 min. to 1 hour. Don't chill longer than an hour and be careful not to overwork the dough. Recipe can be doubled to make a 2 crust pie.

Pumpkin inspiration and a cranberry crumble

Edit: I'm adding a picture and putting in my 2 cents worth about a stuffed winter squash. I didn't have the stuff to make Shannon's stuffed pumpkin. Instead, I cut off the top of the squash, smooshed some butter and salt and pepper around in the cavity and chucked a little bit of broth inside, covered it and baked it at 400degrees until it started to get soft-ish. I threw in a mixture of cooked brown rice, raisins and chopped cashews and baked it until the squash was done and the stuffing warm. . ooo my tasty! And it looks so pretty to serve!
No pictures from me today. Shannon over at Pietown made this amazing stuffed pumpkin. I can't wait to try it out, as we have some winter squash sitting around that I can't bring myself to chop and peel to make soup out of. I'm excited.

And, last night, I took a kick butt apple cranberry crumble to our local soup night. A quick word about soup night. Here in a small town, us hippie eater have got to stick together. We're a tight knit, yet very welcoming group. My dear friend Suzanne makes huge vats of soup once a month and everyone gathers there with bread or salad or wine in hand to make a great feast. Last night, I was inspired by another blogger and took over a tree of gratitude. We all made leaves and wrote what we're thankful for on them and decorated the tree until it was full and bright and made me feel good.

So, the cranberry crumble. Abby ate cranberries raw, puckered up her lips and ate another, and another and another until her whole face was red and her fingers stained!
I didn't bother to peel the apples, put it in a pretty pie plate, omitted the nuts and lowered the sugar significantly in both the fruit and the crumble. It was beautiful and I'm sad I didn't get a picture.

Apple Cranberry Crumble Recipe

This recipe is from the Taste of Home Holidays & Celebrations Cookbook.

6

servings

1¼ hours 15 min prep

3	cups chopped peeled apples
2	cups cranberries (fresh or frozen)
3/4	cup sugar
1	cup oats (old-fashioned or quick-cooking)
3/4	cup packed brown sugar
1/3	cup all-purpose flour
1/2	cup butter, melted
1/2	cup chopped pecans (optional)

1. In a greased 8-in. square baking dish, combine apples and cranberries; sprinkle with sugar.
2. In another bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, flour and butter; sprinkle over cranberry mixture. (Top with pecans if desired.).
3. Bake, uncovered, at 350° for 55-60 minutes or until browned and bubbly.
4. Best served warm.

Whirled Peas Cookies

Okay, my propensity to making food that looks a little like piles of pooh is getting out of hand. But these World Peace Cookies are so tasty it hurts a little bit. I found them by way of pietown (Hi Shannon!) and enjoyed them oh so much. I couldn't find "fleur de sel" here in this little town, so "flower of bali salt" did just fine as a replacement. As long as you don't use a smoky or spicy salt, I imagine it would be alright. This recipe made about 2 dozen and, as you can see, two days later, there's only 4 left.

World Peace Cookies, or Korovas, from Baking From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 11 Tbsp butter at room temperature
- 2/3 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp fleur de sel
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 5 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate (I used really dark chocolate)

Mix together flour, cocoa and baking soda.

Beat butter until soft, then add sugars, salt and vanilla. Beat for 2 minutes. Add dry ingredients and mix slowly until just combined; mix in chocolate. Do not overmix this dough. Divide dough into two portions, and form into logs of 1 1/2 inch diameter. Chill in refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment. Slice dough into 1/2" thick cookies, squishing back on any bits of dough that fall off (the dough is crumbly). Bake for exactly 12 minutes even though cookies will look underdone, and cool on baking sheet on wire rack.

Apple Phyllo Tart

This picture makes it look like a pile of pooh. I assure you, it's not. It's quite tasty. I just can't take pictures of food to save my life. I promise, I won't put anything on this blog that is not tasty. You might have to squint a little to imagine how tasty it would be from my pictures. . . that's just how it will have to be until I find time to use my camera better or get a better camera.
I like to make a dessert with phyllo when I make my greek greens pie. This one fit the bill. Tasty, sweet, but not overly sickeningly sweet. A keeper. . . the recipe, not the tart. Eat the tart. Right now! Go!

Apple Phyllo (Filo) Tart Recipe
By Sarah Phillips
Serves 12

2 large golden delicious apples, peeled and cored and cut into 1/2-inch slices

2 TBSP dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Canola Oil spray or 3 TBSP melted butter, cooled to tepid

Eight 12x17 inch sheets phyllo (filo) dough thawed overnight (available from the grocery store)

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray a nonstick baking sheet with canola oil or cover with parchment paper.
2. To make the filling, in a medium bowl, toss the apple slices, brown sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. Place 1 sheet of filo dough on a prepared baking sheet and very lightly spray it with canola oil (or you can brush with melted butter). Top with the other filo sheets, lightly spraying each sheet with oil (or brush with melted butter), and progressively arranging the sheets across each other at angles to form a sunburst pattern. Mound the apple filling in the center. Bring up the filo sheets to completely cover the filling. Spray the top of the filo with oil (or brush with butter).
4. Bake until the filo is deep golden brown, about 35 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet on a wire cake rack for 10 minutes. Slide the tart on a serving platter. Serve warm.

The Healthy Oven Baking Book, by Sarah Phillips, Doubleday, 1999

Greens Pie

I know, that doesn't sound appetizing, but the recipe to follow kicks some serious butt. It's pretty simple to prepare too. My notes tell me that last time I made this, I wanted more dill and more feta than what's called for in the recipe. You can use any greens for this, including your salad mix. I used some of the leeks from our farm share in addition to the onions. Phyllo dough is often found in the freezer section of the grocery store. At Safeway, it’s with the pre-made crusts and frozen pies. Use your leftover phyllo to make a berry tart. There's a recipe down there. Yum!
Greek Greens and Sweet Onion Pie

Fresh dill and feta cheese flavor this double phyllo-crusted pie. Serve with vegetable soup and crusty bread. Cutting slits into the top phyllo layer allows steam to escape so the crust will be crisp. To serve a larger crowd, double the recipe, and bake the pies side by side in the oven.

Ingredients
2 quarts water
12 cups torn Swiss chard (about 3/4 pound)
8 cups torn spinach (about 1/2 pound)
Cooking spray
2 cups chopped Vidalia or other sweet onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
3/4 cup (3 ounces) crumbled feta cheese
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed

Preparation
Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a large Dutch oven. Add the chard and spinach; cook 2 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Place chard mixture on several layers of paper towels; squeeze until barely moist.
Preheat oven to 375°.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 5 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; sauté 1 minute. Add chard mixture, dill, and parsley, stirring well to combine. Cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat. Combine chard mixture, cheese, eggs, and egg whites, tossing well to combine. Stir in pepper and salt.

Place 1 phyllo sheet on a large cutting board or work surface (cover remaining dough to prevent drying); lightly coat phyllo sheet with cooking spray. Place phyllo sheet in a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray, allowing edges to overlap plate rim. Repeat the procedure with 6 additional phyllo sheets, placing sheets in a crisscross design. Spoon the spinach mixture over phyllo. Lightly coat each of remaining 3 phyllo sheets with cooking spray, and place sheets over spinach mixture in a crisscross design. Roll excess phyllo into the dish to create a decorative edge; press lightly to hold. Cut 4 (2-inch) slits in top of pie; cover with foil. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 30 minutes or until crust is crisp and golden. Cut pie into 8 wedges.

Yield
4 servings (serving size: 2 wedges)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 312(30% from fat); FAT 10.5g (sat 4.8g,mono 3.5g,poly 1.1g); PROTEIN 16.1g; CHOLESTEROL 125mg; CALCIUM 264mg; SODIUM 955mg; FIBER 5.9g; IRON 6.1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 40.3g

Cooking Light, APRIL 2004

We had a lot of salmon berries around here last night and a couple of pears. I used the following recipe as a starting point for a yummy dessert. I used salmon berries, a few pears, lime juice and added some raspberry jam to the filling to help sweeten those perky salmon berries. The end result was very tasty. Especially with ice cream!

Low Fat Blackberry and Apple Tart

This blackberry and apple tart is the result of a morning's apple and blackberry picking at a local farm. Phyllo dough is a great substitute for regular pastry.

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 medium apples, peeled, cored and sliced
• 1/2 dry pint of blackberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 8 sheets phyllo dough

PREPARATION:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss apples slices and blackberries in a medium bowl with sugar and lemon juice. Meanwhile, remove eight sheets of phyllo dough from the pack. I use 14-inch by 9-inch sheets.

If yours are 14 by 18, then cut them in half. Lay the phyllo sheets on a clean work surface or cutting board.

To prevent the sheets from drying out, cover with plastic or wax wrap and then with a damp cloth. Removing one sheet at a time and covering the remainder, spray each sheet with butter-flavored cooking spray, then lay sheet in a 9-inch pie dish, with the sides hanging over the edge. Repeat with remaining sheets, forming a circular pattern.

Fill the center with the apple and blackberries, then bring up the sides of the dough and fold in, leaving a gap in the center. Spray with butter-flavored spray or brush with egg white.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

Serves 6.

Per Serving: Calories 170, Calories from Fat 16, total Fat 1.7g (sat 0.3g), Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 114mg, Carbohydrate 36.4g, Fiber 3.5g, Protein 2g

You're gonna put BEETS in CAKE?!!!

Yup. And it's really freakin' good too!
Here's the recipe:

Beet-Chocolate Cake
10 Servings

Ingredients:
2 cups Sugar
4 free range organic eggs
2 cups flour
1/4 cup oil
3-4 ounces unsweetened chocolate (I only had powdered cocoa, so I followed the substitution guidelines on the package: 3 T cocoa and 1 T oil for each oz. unsweetened choc.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups shredded beets

Directions:
Combine dry ingredients.
Sift or mix well together.
Melt chocolate very slowly in a double boiler.
Allow chocolate to cool, then blend thoroughly with eggs and oil.
Combine flour mixture with chocolate mixture, alternating with beets.
Pour into 2 greased 9 inch cake pans.
Bake at 325 for 40-50 minutes, or until a fork can be removed from the center cleanly.

Recipe from Zephyr Community Farm
I found it in this book
And then I put this yummy frosting on it. Sorry, I lost the link

1 cube butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese
2 cups powdered sugar
2/3 cup good quality cocoa

Mix it up and spread it on. It doesn't look like it'll get to frosting consistency, but it does. This one really does need an electric mixer. It's the best (and easiest) frosting I've ever made.

This is all that's left of the cake:

We pretty much killed it last night. Oh, there were at least 10 people, not just me and Tom.

Lunch Time Yummies

Recipe Maven Musings:

I've been thinking a lot about school lunches. I imagine folks have gotten a bit bored of the usual lunch fixings and are looking for a few good ideas.
I recently was in Portland and went to one of their fancy upscale natural food markets called New Seasons. They had a handout on healthy school lunches that had some great ideas. I don't neccessarily believe all of what they have to say, but I'll quote it here the way they wrote it. Here's what it had to say:

Build a Better Lunch Box
A healthy lunch box will have 5 main components:
1. A whole grain food
2. A lean protein
3. A whole fruit (not juice, fruit snacks, or fruit rolls)
4. A vegetable
5. A low-sugar beverage such as water, plain cow's milk, rice milk, almond milk or soy milk. Be sure that non-dairy milks are calcium fortified.

Nutrient Dense Lunch Ingredients:
Whole Grain Foods: whole wheat or sprouted grain bread, whole grain crackers, whole wheat or sprouted grain tortillas, whole wheat pasta, brown rice, quinoa, rolled oats, low sugar granola

Lean Proteins: hummus, bean dip, deli turkey, fruit juice sweetened yogurt, string cheese, cottage cheese, cheese cubes, peanut butter, almond butter, beans and rice, leftover roast chicken or meat loaf, chunk lite tuna, egg salad or a hard cooked egg

Fruit: Orange slices, mango chunks, grapes, frozen blueberries (a good stir-in for plain yogurt), apples, pears, cherries, melon, peaches, nectarines, plums, small bananas, pineapple chunks, kiwi slices

Vegetables: snap peas, bell pepper strips, fennel chips, carrot sticks, yam or sweet potato oven fries, broccoli trees (steam, then chill), cauliflower (steam then chill), celery, cherry or grape tomatoes, radishes, corn onthe cob, lightly salted edamame (soy beans, find them in the freezer) in the pod.

Healthy Fats: walnuts, mixed nuts (raw, not "roasted" from a can- these are usually fried in oil), almonds, peanuts, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds.

Lunch Time Favorites

Jicama, Carrot and Cucumber Sticks with Lime and Chili Powder
Slice jicama, carrots and cucumber into sticks, sprinkle lightly with chili powder and throw it all in a baggie with a wedge of lime to squeeze on later.

Whole Wheat Pita Wedges with Hummus
Slice one whole wheat pita round into 4 to 8 wedges and store in a baggie. Spoon about 1/3 cup of your child's favorite hummus into a small portable container for dipping in the lunch room.

Fruit Kabobs: spear cubes of cheese, rolled up deli turkey, grapes, strawberries, melon chunks, or apple and pear chunks (soak for a minute in a little lemon water to prevent browning) on bamboo skewers.

Hummus Dippers: Send hummus with carrots chips, fennel chips, and bell pepper strips for a fun way to get some vegetables.

Cinn-nutty Apple Dippers: Mix peanut butter with a little plain low-fat yogurt and a sprinkle of cinnamon served with apple or pear slices to dip.

Ants on a log: smear celery sticks with natural peanut butter or almond butter and put raisin ants on top.

Crunch-factor Yogurt Send an 8 ounce cup of low sugar, fruit juice sweetened, or plain low fat yogurt in the lunch box. In a zip-top bag, combine some low sugar granola, nuts and sunflower seeds to stir into the yogurt at lunch time. Add some frozen, organic blueberries for a boost of antioxidants.

Just in Quesadillas: Make this ahead of time. Warm a whole wheat or sprouted grain tortilla with cheese and low fat refried black beans in the middle. Wrap with foil and refrigerate until lunch time.

Recipes:

We had a whole lot of summer squash at our house last week. Here are a few ideas for eating it up. I made up a random saute with summer squash, tomatoes, garlic and butter all cut up and sauted together. I added the juice of one lime, some salt and pepper and served it over gnocci that we had around. You could use lemon juice or change the flavor by adding some balsamic vinegar and serve it over pasta or rice and add tofu to round it out. Yummy.

Zucchini chocolate bread

Makes 2 loaves

1 3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups grated zucchini
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Set the oven at 350 degrees. Lightly grease 2 9-by-5-inch loaf pans.

2. In a bowl, combine the sugar, eggs, and oil. Beat until well blended. Stir in the zucchini and vanilla.

3. Sift together the flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture. Stir just until blended.

4. Stir in the chips and nuts and divide the batter between the pans.

5. Bake the loaves for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the loaves cool in the pans for 20 minutes. Turn them out onto wire racks and set them right side up to cool.

from ''The Classic Zucchini Cookbook''