From Joyce's Recipe Box: Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread (Variations)

Variations on Chocolate Chip Zucchini Recipe

So, I've been playing around with the recipe I posted a couple of weeks ago and have come up with a few variations that are both healthy and tasty. As you can see in the photos, our little guy's a pretty big fan.

Variations:

You can do any one of the following variations or do them all in the same batch (I like them all in one batch).

1. Oat Bran - Substitute the 1 cup of flour with 1/2 cup organic whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup organic oat bran (very inexpensive to buy from Whole Foods bulk bins). You may want to increase the sugar to 1/3 cup (optional). Baking may take few minutes longer. Test by sticking a toothpick in and see if it comes out clean.
   
2. More Zucchini - Increase the grated zucchini to 3 cups (about 3 medium zucchinis). This variation makes the bread very moist - more like a cake. You will need to bake a little longer - a total of 1hr 15min to about 1hr 20min.
   
3. Orange Flavor - To the wet ingredients, add 1 teaspoon organic orange extract and 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon orange zest, depending upon your preference (orange & chocolate combo is a favorite of mine).

Below is the recipe I originally posted.

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Ingredients:
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini (about 2 medium zucchinis)
1 cup wheat flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease a 4 x8-inch loaf pan.
2. Beat egg, oil, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl win an electric mixer set at medium speed until foamy. I just used a hand-held mixer...works fine.
3. Add zucchini to egg mixture and stir.
4. Combine flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder in a separate bowl.
5. Gradually add flour mixture to zucchini mixture, beating continually until well mixed. I usually just pour in a quarter of the flour mixture at a time, and stir with a rubber spatula in between - no need to use the mixer.
   
6. Stir chocolate chips and chopped pecans into batter.
7. Pour batter into loaf pan and bake for 1 hour or until golden brown. To test, I stick a tooth pick in and see if it comes out clean.
   

*NOTE: This recipe calls for a 1/4 of the sugar (original recipe uses 1 cup sugar to 1 cup flour) and twice as much zucchini as in the original recipe. In addition, I substituted wheat flour for the original white flour. With the chocolate chips added in, I think this bread is more than sweet enough. However, you may want to experiment with more sugar and/or mixing half wheat and half white flour.

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If anyone has other variations of this recipe and would like to share, please post in the comments below...we'd love to share with everyone!