Zucchini-palooza- It happens. Oh and some chocolate.

I had an absolute ton of zucchini to get rid of, er, use before they went bad. What else could I do but make zucchini bread? I started with Paula Deen's recipe and ended up tweaking it quite a bit. I know it's practically a mortal sin to "healthify" one of Mrs. Deen's southern yums, but I was in the mood. Go ahead- report me to the oil police!

The final product is what I humbly and rather verbosly call "Whole Wheat Zucchini & Fresh Cranberry Muffins (with a little bit of white chocolate)". Yep. I added fresh cranberries as an extension of my attempt to clear the fridge.

A month or so back, Chris went to the store to get ingredients for a salad we were taking to a pot luck. I'd put cranberries on the list, not thinking that he would interpret it as fresh cranberries instead of my intended dried. I thought it was a cute mix up (we used pears for the salad, instead) and ended up with a bag of cranberries taking up space in our refrigerator. I used the first half in a cranberry oat bread- I'll post about that, soon.

Whole Wheat Zucchini & Fresh Cranberry Muffins
(with a little bit of white chocolate)
Adapted from Paula Deen's Zucchini Bread

• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour


• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour


• 1 1/2 tsp salt


• 1 1/2 tsp grated fresh nutmeg


• 2 tsp baking soda


• 1 tsp ground cinnamon


• 3 cups sugar, divided


• 1/2 cup vegetable oil


• 1/2 cup apple sauce (all I had was cinnamon-flavored...no regrets!)


• 4 eggs, beaten


• 1/3 cup water


• 2 cups grated zucchini


• 1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries (1/2 of a bag, however much that is)
  


• 1 tsp lemon juice


• 1 cup white chocolate chips
  

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine cranberries and 1/2 cup sugar in the food processor and chop into bits. Let sit while you combine the rest of the ingredients:

2. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and remaining 2 1/2 cups of sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, apple sauce, eggs, water, zucchini, chopped cranberries and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry and fold in white chocolate chips.

3. Spray muffin tins with cooking spray. Fill each almost to the brim with batter* and bake 17 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

*At this point, I thought they looked a little, well, ugly so I topped some with a sprinkle of quick-cooking oats. Now that's pizazz.

Verdict
Me: I liked 'em! Still not the healthiest thing ever (hell-o sugar!) even after the changes I made, though. I guess you could take things further and use egg beaters and probably cut the sugar down a bit. However, their flavor and texture was good. Not the best quick bread ever, but a good use of zucchini and fresh cranberries! Oh, and speaking of the cranberries- other than the pretty red flecks, I couldn't really taste them. I'd make sure they weren't chopped quite so small, next time.

Chris: He liked 'em! It's hard to tell with him, though. I don't think he loved them.

Co-workers' Inferred Review: I took about 15 of them and only 2 were left at the end of the day. I didn't get any personal raves, though, so I don't think they were judged as anything outstanding. I tried a piece again at work (a day after making them), and I found them a bit watery, so I might just do away with that 1/3 cup water if I make them again. I imagine the zucchini lets off enough on its own.

So... that's 2 cups of zucchini down...

Did I mention I had a ton of zucchini to use? In addition to the zucchini bread, I had set out to make zucchini cookies from a neat-sounding recipe I'd come across not too long ago. But, I ultimately decided that double zucchini treats in one day might not be so fantastic for my poor co-workers. (Some of them had already expressed rather negative sentiments regarding the general healthiness of the muffs.) Unfortunately, I had already softened a stick of butter. Hm. What to do?

I know- make Chewy Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Didn't see that one coming, did you?

Really I just wanted to make something that Chris would flip over- and flip he did!
Chewy Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe from Picky Palate
I lazily halved the recipe (read: inexact half) because I only had 1 stick of softened butter and 1/2 a bag of white chocolate chips, and it worked out great. Here's my "lazy" version:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened


• 1/2 cup granulated sugar


• 1/3 cup brown sugar


• 1 egg


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1/2 tsp vanilla


• 1 scant cup all-purpose flour


• 3/4 cup cocoa


• 1 tsp baking soda


• 1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Cream the butter and 2 sugars.
2. Add the egg and beat well. Add the salt and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa and soda. Mix into butter/sugar mixture. (My batter was super thick!)
4. Fold in (more like cram in...) white chocolate chips.
5. Scoop by rounded Tbs onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

Verdict:
Me: Good GAWD, these were good! Yummy flavor and fantastic, chewy texture. These are just a nice, simple, quick go-to, crowd-pleasing cookie. Is that enough adjectives for you?
Oooh. It just occured to me that these would be so good with re-hydrated craisins in them! I'm going to have to remember that for next time.

Chris: He closed his eyes while he was eating them, if that tells you anything. I really think he loved these. I think I need to get him to commit to a solid rating system, though, because when I asked him if he liked them better than aaaaaaanything else I'd made, well, he couldn't remember. Helpful, Christopher. Oh well- at least he liked them!

Co-Workers' Inferred Review: To come! Had to space out the treats, so I'm taking them tomorrow. :)
Update: No real review to give- no comments/thank you's. If they liked 'em, they kept it to themselves. Only one was left at the end of the day, though.

That's it! I still have quite a bit of zucchini left, though. Maybe I should try it in something savory, like a pasta dish? We'll see.

I'll leave you with a picture of me working on my photography skillz: