Gluten Free Zucchini Cookies (Also Vegan!)

I took my Grandma Tiny's Zucchini Cookies recipe and decided I needed to make it gluten free so I could enjoy them again.  It’s zucchini season!  These are perfect for the abundance of zucchini and pretty simple to make—you don’t even need a mixer.  I changed up the sugars a little so I wasn’t just using refined sugar and I used grape seed oil.  All changes I made worked perfectly and I’m happy that these are healthier and gluten free and they just happen to be vegan, so Parker was happy, too.  Sometimes the changes I make to things (especially when I make them gluten free AND vegan) make baked goods a bit dry and crumbly.  I’m still working on that issue.  But these cookies turned out great.  Parker even noticed and mentioned it.  And Kevin ate quite a few of them and he usually doesn’t eat something he knows is gluten free or vegan.  Win!

What more—since they’re vegan—you can eat the cookie dough!  (Not that in my past I’ve never eaten raw cookie dough of any kind.) ; )



Gluten Free Zucchini Cookies (They’re vegan, too!), by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

In a medium sized bowl, stir together with a whisk: (No electric mixer needed.)
1//2 cup organic cane sugar
¼ cup organic coconut sugar
¼ cup organic agave nectar (Note—I’ve used 1 cup of brown sugar before instead of the 3 sweeteners listed)
1 cup grated zucchini (I use the fine grater)
1/2 cup organic grape seed oil (or any other oil of choice)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift together in another medium sized bowl:
2 cups gluten free flour blend (I used Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 blend)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon fresh nutmeg
1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped (or walnuts)—optional
1/3 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips—optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula until combined.  Stir in the nuts and raisins.
Drop by spoonfuls on parchment lined baking sheets.  Bake for 12 minutes.  Remove cookies to wire rack to cool.

Life is crazy and busy and probably a little boring around here.  I’m still here.  We had a great summer with lots of fun trips and everyone is happy to be back in school.  Shh, probably me more than anyone.

TEN YEARS BLOGGING! Gluten Free Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Zucchini Cake

Hello, Everyone!  Would you believe it’s been 10 years since I started my blog!  Ten Years!  That’s so crazy to me.  Even crazier—I started my blog just before my baby turned one.  Yep, he’s almost 11 years old!  I keep wishing I could take the time to share things with you like I used to way back when.  Times have changed.  Blogging isn’t the same.  My boys aren’t the same and I think I’m definitely busier with three teenagers and a 10 year old.  My health isn’t the same.  So much change.  In my heart though, I’m the same—I still love food (treats especially) and want to share my favorites here with a good dose my life and family.  Sigh.  So here I am, blogging sparingly, but still here nonetheless.

 

I still have this idea to revamp some of my favorite treats into healthier and gluten free versions, so I’ve done it again today with this Gluten Free Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Zucchini Cake—which I’ve taken from this heavenly Chocolate Zucchini Cake.  Took a few tries, but THIS recipe I’m sharing here today is great!  It’s not as healthy as it could be, but it’s still gluten free and refined sugar free and I’m happy about that.  I will work on another version that is grain free and maybe dairy free, but I’ve sure decided with baking lately and trying to make things vegan for one of my sons, that baked goods benefit greatly from eggs and butter!

Never, ever would someone even guess this decadent chocolate cake has a vegetable.  You cannot tell there is zucchini in it. 

Gluten Free Refined Sugar Free Chocolate Zucchini Cake, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 ¼ cups gluten free flour blend

6 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon xanthan powder (even if your flour blend has some, add this extra)

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup coconut sugar

6 tablespoons raw honey

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, room temperature

1/3 cup milk (I used 2%)

1 cup finely grated zucchini, liquid squeezed out in a tea towel

½ cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Ganache—

3 ounces heavy cream

4 ½ ounces Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with non-stick foil (optional, but I love doing this for easily removing the baked cake from the pan), spray with cooking spray (here I prefer the no-propellants coconut oil spray). Set aside. Add gluten free flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, xanthan and salt to a medium sized bowl and whisk to combine. Set aside. Cream the butter, coconut sugar and honey in mixer for 3-5 minutes, until smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat another couple minutes, scrape the bowl to make sure all is combined. Add the zucchini and mix together. While the mixer is going, add part of the dry ingredients, then some of the milk, then more dry ingredients, the rest of the milk, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Beat it in the mixer for 3-5 more minutes. Since it is gluten free, it will be fine! Stir in the chocolate chips. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out mostly clean with just moist crumbs. Let cake sit on a wire rack to cool.

Make the ganache. In a glass microwave safe bowl, heat the cream in 20-30 second intervals until it’s bubbly around the sides (this can also be down in a pan on the stove). Pour the chocolate over the cream and let sit for a minute. Slowly stir the chocolate and cream until smooth. Remove cake from pan with the foil edges. Carefully remove the foil from the bottom, let cool completely while ganache cools more and thickens slightly. Spread the ganache evenly over the cake. Store in an airtight cake holder. Cut into nine squares and serve. (Next I’m going to bake this cake in a 9x9 inch pan for the cake to ganache ratio to be a little better!)

Here’s what’s happening with my family lately--

Scott proposed marriage to his girlfriend!  He told us on Christmas, even though he asked Diana to marry him back in August.  Little sneak!  They are happy and plan to get married in a couple years after they get things more set financially. ; )

Parker has been busy with his first job at Target during the holidays.  He works at a thrift clothing store right now, but plans to go back to Target when they hire him back in March.  He’s also busy with school trying to get enough credits to graduate a year early.  He’s ready to go places!

Taylor is busy in 8th grade with percussion and loves drumming!  He’s actually taking drum lessons on the side through someone Kevin knew at UVU.  It’s nonstop drumming around here, on drums and drum pads and counters and anything!  He was selected with a couple others to be in the school drumline and they got to go to all the home boys’ and girls’ basketball games and play during timeouts and halftime.  He loved it!  I enjoyed going and watching him and recording lots of his beats!  He’s actually written a couple of his own cadences.

 

Sam recently “earned” a trip to Disneyland with me, so we went and had a blast for two days with my friend, Bonnie, and her four girls.  Sam had never been to Disney or California.  We flew over in a flash and played hard and it was over before we knew it.  Sam LOVED Guardians of the Galaxy at California Adventures (me, not so much).  He also loved the Raging Waters ride.  That one WAS pretty fun—and wet.  My favorite at C.A. was Soaring Around the World.  So awesome!  It was fun to see Mickey and a bunch of other characters and lots of fun hanging with friends!

You might be wondering about my health.  My MS (multiple sclerosis) is 100% stable and I’m doing well!  I’m super blessed and the medication I get (by a two hour infusion every 36 days) seems to be doing it’s job of keeping the MS in remission.  Lots of prayers and fingers crossed!  Again, I cannot believe ten years have passed since I started this blog.  It breaks my heart to not be doing as much as I used to with it, but we just go with the flow of life and do what we can, right?  I’m still going to keep updates around here from time to time and hope to keep sharing my healthier changes to the treats and desserts I make.  I still make “regular” things as well.  When I have something to share, I hope to get it done.  February 17, 2018—can you believe it? 

Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe and Zucchini Lemon Cranberry Walnut Muffins Recipe

This original post from 2009 disappeared from my blog.  Not sure how or why.  But here’s a new current repost of it---It's that time of year.  You practically have them growing out your ears.  I'm talking about zucchini.  Some of them are huge.  They aren't quite as good for savory cooking when they get too big.  But they make a dang good killer chocolate cake!  Bah--look at this!

Yep, believe it or not, there is zucchini in there!  I know.  I hear ya.  You just would NEVER know it's there.  So this means this cake is healthy, right.  Well, we can pretend anyway.  Sigh. 

Yeah, it's not healthy.  But for goodness sake, it's delicious!  (Dad--it's chocolate cake!)

After buying two giant, cheap zucchini at the farmer's market last week, I went on a Google search for just what to do with them.  I already shared with you my zucchini ("apple") crisp.  I knew there were all kinds of quick breads and muffins out there with zucchini and I even knew there were zucchini snack cakes.  But THIS cake, it's not just your run-of-the-mill "snack".  This is big time dessert here.  Kevin was even a little bummed that I didn't have any ice cream to serve with it.  (I know, me, slacking on the ice cream making! ;)

I found this beauty on Em's blog,  The Repressed Pastry Chef.  I actually didn't even know she was a fellow TWD baker.  (What?  I can't read them all.  I wish.  But after finding this cake on her blog and browsing around a bit, I've added her blog to my reader.)  Em found this recipe on the King Arthur Flour website.  I halved the recipe and baked it in an 8x8 inch baking pan.  I made some minor changes, so here's the recipe as I made it, but please when you're done with me, go look at Em's!

Chocolate Zucchini Cake, adapted by Katrina from The King Arthur Flour Company and Em at The Repressed Pastry Chef (halved)

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup canola oil

6  1/8 ounces granulated sugar (1/2 cup plus 6 tablespoons)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1/4 cup buttermilk (original recipe calls for sour cream or yogurt)

1  1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1  1/8 ounces Dutch-process cocoa

(optional 1 teaspoon espresso powder)  I did not use it

1 cup zucchini, finely grated (middle/seeds removed)

1/2 cup (3 ounces) chocolate chips  (I used 58% cacao Ghiradelli chips)  (I didn't halve the chips)

Ganache Icing--

3 ounces heavy cream

4 1/2 ounces dark chocolate (I used the Ghiradelli chips)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with foil.  Spray with cooking spray.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter, oil, sugar, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Beat in the egg.  Scrape sides of bowl. 

Stir in the buttermilk alternately with the flour.  Then add the cocoa.  Mix until well combined.  Fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips.

Pour and spread the batter evenly in the baking pan.  Bake for 30-35 minutes (mine took 32 minutes), until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool the cake on a wire rack.  Remove the cake from the pan using the foil edges.

Prepare the ganache by heating the cream to a simmer.  (I actually used the microwave and it worked great, just do it in 20-30 second intervals and stir in between.)  Pour the cream into a bowl with the chocolate chips.  Let sit a minute or two.  Stir the melted chocolate and cream until combined and smooth.  Spread over cake evenly with an offset spatula.  See how long you can wait before cutting slices of the cake and eating it.  (The ganache hardens as it sits, but doggonit it's good right away! ;)

You know you want a bite.  I'm not kidding, there's zucchini in there.  (You would never in a million years know it, Bob!)

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Now after all that, take a deep breath, it's going to be okay.  Breathe.  Okay.  I kind of feel like these poor little muffins will take a huge back seat to that cake, BUT just keep in mind, sometimes you feel like a muffin and sometimes a little cake and the muffins really could be considered somewhat healthy and a great grab and go breakfast or perfect snack and they are also delicious if I do say so myself.   You'll have to try them and give them the credit they too deserve just as much as that cake.  Again, in my Googling around, I ran across this Low Fat Lemon Zucchini Bread on about.com.  These muffins were inspired by that bread, but I changed many things and came up with these darn-tootin' good muffins.

Zucchini-Lemon Cranberry Walnut Muffins, by Katrina

1  3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or could use all purpose)

1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2/3 cups sugar

1 tablespoon lemon zest (zest of 1 lemon)

1/4 cup coconut oil (or any vegetable oil)

1 large egg

1 egg white

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup low fat buttermilk

1 cup zucchini, seeded and finely grated

1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

1/2 cup dried cranberries

turbinado sugar for sprinkle over top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line muffin tins with paper liners (this made 14 muffins). 

In medium sized bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.  Whisk together and set aside.  In another bowl, combine the sugar and lemon zest, combining it together with your fingers until the sugar is moist, yellow and fragrant.  (I got this idea from Dorie Greenspan and love it.)  Combine the zesty sugar, oil, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk until well mixed with a wire whisk.  Stir in zucchini.  Add the dry ingredients with the wet and fold together just until moist.  Fold in nuts and cranberries.  Fill each muffin cup with a good sized scoop of batter.  Sprinkle each with turbinado sugar.  Bake for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of one comes out clean.  Set pan on wire rack and cool for five minutes.  Remove the muffins from the tin and cool to room temperature on wire rack.

There is some nutty, berry-sweet goodness hiding in there and a wonderful lemon flavor!

You've seriously got to try these.  Coming soon--more zucchini!  I bought two giant ones remember.  These two recipes didn't even use one whole one.  Did you know you can grate the zucchini and freeze it in plastic bags?  It will last a couple months in the freezer.  Run to your gardens, neighbor's gardens, farmer's markets, grocery stores now and stock up!  You'll for sure want to make this cake and these muffins over and over again! ;) 

Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake—Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free

I have some zucchini (who doesn’t?!).  I decided to make something, and after making my “famous” Grandma Tiny's Zucchini Cookies so I could give them to some friends, I felt that I needed to make something I could eat, too.  Taking notes from the recipe for Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Brownies I made two years ago, I changed up a few things figuring these would be a little less brownie-like and have more of a cakey texture—and they do.  They are good.  I challenge anyone to test them out and see if they’d have a clue these are gluten free, have no refined sugar and are made with coconut oil instead of butter.  I even think they wouldn’t know they have zucchini, too.  I’m happy with my new snack! 

Part of the reason you can’t even tell they have zucchini is because when I make baked goods with zucchini, I prefer to use the finer side of the grater.

See the difference?  If you set the grated zucchini on paper towel while getting the rest of the ingredients ready, a lot of the liquid is drained from the shreds which helps you not end up with a wet mess when you’re baking with them.  When I made the cookies earlier, I forgot to use the smaller grate, so I put the zucchini (along with the brown sugar and oil I’d already mixed in with it) in the food processor and chopped it a little finer by just pulsing it a few times.  I think it worked perfectly!

I think it’s okay and necessary for the zucchini to be visible in zucchini cookies, same with zucchini bread, but for some reason not in chocolate things like brownies and cake.  Just don’t tell people who don’t want a vegetable in their baked goods and they wouldn’t even know.  ; )

Chocolate Zucchini Snack Cake—Gluten Free, Refined Sugar Free, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/2 cup coconut sugar

1/2 cup raw honey

1/4 cup organic coconut oil

1/2 cup raw cacao (or cocoa powder)

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup almond flour

3/4 cup gluten free flour blend (with xanthan gum)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup finely shredded, drained on paper towel for 20 minutes, packed zucchini

1/2 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips (or chips of your choice)

1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped, lightly toasted

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 9x9 inch baking pan with nonstick foil with edges creased down over the sides and grease lightly with coconut oil.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together the coconut sugar, honey, and coconut oil.  Add the cocoa powder and stir together until well combined.  Whisk in the eggs and vanilla.  Add the almond flour, gluten free flour blend, baking powder and salt.  Stir with a spatula until just combined.  Stir in the zucchini.  Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans.  Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.  Bake for 23-25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just moist crumbs.  Let sit on wire rack until cool.  Remove from pan using the foil edges.  Set on a cutting board and cut into desired sized pieces.  Snack away.

Mmmm!  Do you see the zucchini in there?  No.  You can’t tell it’s there, but veggies in cake equals healthy! ; )

Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Brownies

All the healthy treats I’ve been making have been great and I’m happy to be finding so many things out there that do the trick of curbing a little sweet attack.  That said, sometimes I’ve just been craving the good old days (2 months ago??) and want a good, decadent full fat, sugary treat. 

These brownies have done the trick!  Though they are still gluten free, refined sugar free and low in oil (coconut oil).  Win!  While it’s probably a bit more healthy to use raw honey or dates in goodies, which I have been doing a lot, these brownies almost seem like a bit of a cheat to me since I used organic natural pure cane sugar in them.  (I know, I should be arrested by the health freaks out there.) ;)  These ARE healthy since they are full of zucchin, right?  Hello?  Gluten free flours?  Coconut oil, dairy free, vegan, soy free, refined sugar free chocolate chips?  These are right there with the healthiest of treats, I’m calling it.

I found the base recipe for these at Karina’s blog, Gluten Free Goddess.  Then I proceeded to change the recipe quite a bit.  So check hers out after you check mine.  She’s got a great blog with tons of gluten free goodies as well as savory foods.

Gluten Free Chocolate Zucchini Brownies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup  almond flour

3/4 cup whole grain sweet sorghum flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

1 cup organic natural pure cane sugar plus 1 teaspoon molasses, mix with a fork or your fingers until it becomes brown sugar (I love doing this!)

2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk, room temperature

1/4 cup organic coconut oil

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup packed shredded zucchini, set on a towel to absorb some of the liquid for 20 minutes

1/2 cup Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 9 inch square pan with non stick foil, grease lightly with coconut oil.  Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients—almond meal, sorghum flour, cocoa powder, xanthan gum, baking powder, salt and sugar.  Whisk together.

In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients—eggs, coconut oil and vanilla extract.  Whisk to combine.  Pour the wet ingredients in to the dry and fold together with a spatula or wooden spoon until all combined.  Fold in the zucchini and chocolate chips.  Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. 

Bake for 23 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.  Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.  Remove from the pan using the foil edges.  Cut into desired sized squares on a cutting board.

We had these with ice cream (well, I didn’t have ice cream, but the rest of the family did).  They are a perfect brownie texture and have a great chocolaty taste.  These will be my splurge for the week, until I tell you about the grain free chocolate zucchini cookies I also made that were just as delicious!

Zucchini Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

Almost to the end of my zucchini!  My mom recently told me about a cake she made that used up some of her zucchini.  I decided it sounded and looked really good.  So I made the cake into cupcakes and used my own version of cream cheese frosting.  And the cupcakes were really good!

My mom found this recipe at Tiffany’s blog, Eat At Home.  I adapted it with different amounts of flour and sugar.

Zucchini Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2 1/4 cups (270 grams or 9 1/2 ounces) all purpose flour

1 3/4 cups (355 grams or 12 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup canola oil

4 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups finely grated zucchini (270 grams or 9 1/2 ounces)

1 cup finely grated carrots (80 grams or 2 3/4 ounces)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 muffin tins with paper cupcake liners.  I got 20 cupcakes.  Set aside.

Add the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl and whisk to combine.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the oil, eggs and vanilla until well blended.  Stir in the zucchini and carrots.  Bake for 24-26 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into one of the cupcakes comes out clean.  Cool for 5-10 minutes, then remove the cupcakes from the pan and let cool completely on a wire rack.

Frost the cupcakes.

Cream Cheese Frosting, by Katrina, Baking and Boys! (This can be doubled, but since some people around here don’t like frosting, I don’t make a full batch.)

4 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar (220 grams)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

pinch of salt

Cream together the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer.  Add the salt and vanilla and combine.  Then add the powdered sugar one cup at a time and beat well until desired consistency.  Put the frosting in a piping bag and pipe onto cupcakes if desired.  (This made enough to frost about 14 of the 20 cupcakes. 

These cupcakes are perfectly moist from the zucchini and carrots and nicely spiced with the cinnamon.  But the best part is definitely the bites with the cream cheese frosting in them! ;)

Double Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cookies (*They’re Possibly Vegan!)

My in-laws were leaving town and gave me a bunch of zucchini from their garden.  I’m having fun using them up!  You would never know these super duper Double Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cookies HAVE zucchini.

I’m very happy with the way they turned out as I just playing around with my Grandma Tiny's Zucchini Cookies.  I posted those cookies last year after finding an old hand-written recipe from my grandma for them at my parents house.   Her zucchini cookies are really good (and they’re vegan as they are made with oil and have no eggs).  Those cookies have cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg and are just a basic zucchini cookies, but I think they taste great.

Yet surprise, surprise I was thinking about chocolate and how I could incorporate it into a cookie with zucchini.  It worked great to add cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa, which is why they look so dark.  I plan to try them with some natural cocoa as well.)  These are also studded with dark chocolate and pecans.  I really like the texture of them, too.  They aren’t cakey and are almost brownie-like, but they still have that benefit of health from the zucchini.  I also used whole wheat pastry flour ( fiber!).

Double Dark Chocolate Zucchini Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup finely grated zucchini

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1  1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour  (150 grams) or all purpose flour

4 tablespoons dark cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup dark chocolate, chopped (or chips)*  These may or may not be vegan depending on what kind of chocolate you use.  (I used 70% Lindt Excellence Dark Chocolate)

1/3 cup pecan, toasted and chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together with a wire whisk the oil and sugar.  Add the vanilla and grated zucchini and whisk to combine. 

Combine all the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, then add to the wet ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or spatula just until all incorporated.  Stir in the chocolate and pecans.  Scoop into tablespoonfuls about two inches apart on the baking sheets.  Bake for 9 minutes. Let cookies cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets.  Then remove from sheet to cool completely on wire rack.   Makes about 2 dozen.  

I strongly suggest if you have loads of zucchini like everyone else it seems and you like chocolate like I like chocolate that you make these cookies.

August Cookie Carnival—Zucchini Carrot Bars and Coconut Cherry Bars

Giveaway reminder at the bottom of this post!

  Wanna join the carnival?  Bake along with us once a month. 

Quick post here for this month’s Cookie Carnival.  I made both recipes a couple weeks ago.  First up—the Betty Crocker Coconut Cherry Bars.

I made the crust in the food processor.  Pulsing until crumbly and the butter was mixed in.  I pressed that into an 8x8 inch square pan.  The recipe is quite simple.  I used chopped almonds, the recipe just calls for nuts, but coconut and almonds are meant to be. 

Kevin doesn’t like maraschino cherries.  So I just dotted a few halved cherries over half the pan.  These bars baked just fine.  They taste good—coconutty.

With the other half of the bars, I cut them, then drizzled each piece with some melted chocolate.  (Almond Joy!) 

We thought these were pretty good.  I just had a few bites.  Knowing what was in these (a lot of fat and calories), I chose not to eat much.  Kevin said they were pretty good. 

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Next up—the Zucchini Carrot Bars from Kelloggs.  These bars were simple to make, though I did not enlist the help of any of the boys.  (They would not have liked knowing we were putting vegetables in something yummy.)  When they saw the finished bars and asked what they were, I told them they were spice bars.  I left the cloves out of the recipe, I sure thought I had some, but cannot find any.  I used freshly grated nutmeg and for the egg whites, I used powdered egg whites.  Worked great.

I liked these, but did think the lemon glaze on top overpowered any other flavors.   I would rather have had a vanilla glaze to have the spices stand out more.  And I wished there would have been nuts in the bars for some crunch.  I might make these again and use coconut oil and whole wheat flour, maybe even try agave instead of some of the sugar.

These bars worked great for using up a little more of that zucchini.  The recipe from Kelloggs says to use Raisin Bran cereal in the bars, I kicked it up a bit and used some Raisin Bran Extra with cranberries, raisins, yogurty clusters, sliced almonds.  Good stuff, love that cereal. 

And that’s all I have for you today.  Oh wait—have you entered the giveaway I’m having to win an EatSmart kitchen scale?  Leave me a comment on the giveaway post.  You have until Tuesday, August 31 to enter.