It has come down to this. What can a person with a ton of zucchini do with all of it? You can only sneak the excess into so many back seats before people quit stopping over. You can’t leave it on the neighbors back porch without running into them sneaking gourds of their own over to your front porch. You can fry it, sauté it, grill it, freeze it, fricassee it, turn it into risotto, alfredo, marinara, soup, fritters, casseroles, gratins, stew and bread. But sooner or later, you run out of ways to cook it.
Until one Saturday morning the idea of ….. brownies pops into your mind. Brownies? Well, why not? Vegetables and chocolate are a winning combination aren’t they? I decided to find out.
I already have a really good brownie recipe. It’s the same recipe my Mom always made, though I have tweaked it a bit. I adapted it a bit more to include a certain prolific denizen of the garden. The first thing I did was to grate a largish zucchini and place it in a colander over a bowl. After an hour, I thoroughly squeezed as much moisture as I could from the squash. I also decided to try using brown sugar instead of white in an effort to keep the texture more fudgey than cake-like. 
Grease a 9×12 inch baking dish and set the oven to 350 degrees.
In a heavy 3 quart sauce pan, melt:
2 sticks butter
Turn off heat and stir in
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup baking cocoa
Let that cool for about 5 minutes and beat in, one at a time:
3 eggs
Then, add
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups of the squeezed dry zucchini
1 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped
And mix, just until combined
Pour into greased baking dish and place in preheated oven. Bake approximately 40 minutes, until the brownies test done with a toothpick.
Then get ready to amaze your mouth, ’cause these are GOOD! They’re gooey and chewy and the squash gives them a fantastic texture a bit like coconut. And packed with nutrition! Ok – they are probably not packed with nutrition because really zucchini doesn’t have a whole lot of nutrition to begin with and we got rid of some of it when we squeezed out all the liquid. They are awfully yummy though.
Wow, I don’t really care about the nutrition because my mouth is watering so much! They look wonderful. :)
I think I just may have to try making this. Love your blog!
What a great recipe! They’re serving zucchini cake at the pub this month. I guess everyone has it in excess right now!
Brownies are a huge weakness for me….
…Hello dlyn, these look wonderful! I have been looking for a good homemade cake-like brownie recipe and I am gonna give yours a try.
…Thank you for sharing! Enjoy your brownies! :o)
…Blessings…
best use of zucchini ever. so much butter, so much brown sugar, so much deliciousness. :)
Yummy! I am going to have to try this one because they look scrumptious!
Awesome! Now I know what to make for my daughters Birthday! Thank you!
Looks de-lish!
They look positively decadent.
Looks way good.
I’m sorry, honey. I’m usually right on board lusting over whatever you have made.
But I don’t mess with chocolate by adding anything healthy. It’s just not how God intended.
:)
sara
http://gitzengirl.blogspot.com
Lord have mercy. I must make these. After my WW weigh in.
So beautiful, I would love to have some!
Vegetables in brownies? I don’t care because they look awesome. Hey, did you get your camera back? I think about it all the time!
This recipe makes sense to me.
Chocolate comes from the Cocoa BEAN therefore chocolate is a vegetable.
Bear((( )))
Thanks everyone – they really are some of the best brownies I have ever had.
tj – if you prefer a cakey texture, try adding an additional 1/2 cup of flour – then they won’t be quite as gooey.
sara – you can’t tell it is something healthy – you just know they taste really good ;)
Kate – the camera is at the repair place, but they haven’t evaluated it yet. By Thursday they say.
bear – beans are definitely vegetables – that is what I always say about coffee too.
thanks to everyone – please come back and tell me if you make them!
Zucchini doesn’t have much nutrition? You did NOT just say that! I’m not listening! Lalalalalala!
Now, that was a brilliant idea! They look yummy!
Save some for me – coming over in the morning to share some with ya – have the coffee brewing too – Kellan
My sister just snuck a huge load of those wicked zucchini in my trunk when I dropped her off from our little mini vacation. I didn’t notice until I got home and opened the trunk to remove my bag. Dang her! I already have two zucchini plants of my own. She thinks she is funny. Well I will show her! I am going to make these and eat the whole thing myself. Yeah, that’ll teach her.
I make chocolate zucchini cake every year with the overload of zucchini, but I’ve never made brownies, they sound delicious! (And I totally sneak zucchini into people’s backseats…)
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