So the hubs and I decided to tackle our pantry this weekend. It had gotten a smidge out of hand. And when I say smidge, I mean there was peanut butter with the beans, duplicates of things purchased because the original had gotten buried, and plastic and paper bags had grown to about 2 ft tall which made getting to the dog food an interesting experience everyday Mav needed to be fed. So we emptied it out, re-organized, and made it look so beautiful! Multiple times last night I went to open the door and just stare in because that organization was making me feel so good!
Amidst this organizing I discovered that I had two of the Costco packages of the big cans of pumpkin. That is 6, 29oz cans. That is A LOT of pumpkin. I obviously needed to make something with pumpkin! And in the spirit of cleaning things out, I decided to use the shredded zucchini I had stored in the freezer months ago too! And the chocolate… well, does that really need an explanation?
After a little recipe research I created a fail proof recipe. And when I say fail proof it probably isn’t… but it certainly survived not really creaming the butter because I didn’t let it soften, and the zucchini defrosting weird or not really defrosting at all. (I think chunks of ice made it into the recipe too).
Recipe follows below, and btw… two batches of that recipe makes two loaves of bread, 24 regular size muffins, and 6 jumbo muffins. The freezer is calling the muffins’ name… quick breakfasts or snacks to pull out!
Pumpkin Zucchini Chocolate-Chip Bread (or muffins)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
2 sticks of butter, softened
4 eggs
1 cup milk
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini
1 15oz can of pureed pure pumpkin
Preheat the oven to 350F and spray 2 9-inch loaf pans (or 2 muffin pans) with cooking spray.
Mix the dry ingredients (including chocolate chips) in a large bowl.
In a stand up mixer, cream the butter. Then add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until fully incorporated. Add the milk and beat until mixed. Add pumpkin and zucchini and mix on medium until blended.
Combine dry and wet ingredients. Stir until all is moistened. Do not over mix.
For 2 loaves bake 45-60 minutes or until top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Muffins take only 25-35 minutes. Allow to cool about 10 minutes before removing from pan.
I think I mentioned yummy-ness in the title, but did I mention the yummy smell too! These are packed with spices, and I love how they turned out! Mav certainly enjoyed some of the pumpkin wet mixture that ended up on the floor when I was pouring the wet into the dry ingredients. And subsequently, he stood at my feet the rest of the time I was making these hoping he would catch some more tasty morsels. (Can you spy his reflection in the mixing bowl above?)
And now that I’m done writing this post I’m going to go slice myself a piece of this bread and maybe eat it with a little cream cheese! Yummmm.
Sam
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