Finally, I am sitting down and writing out my recipe 🙂
It is so hard to get my kids to each much of anything, especially Little Man. He favorite foods are cereal, waffles, PB&J sammies, and chips. He has slowly started to branch out to include yogurt, applesauce, apples and grapes. But trying to get that kids to even try out new foods is beyond futile.
Little Miss is a bit better and has been asking to try new foods and eating what hubby and I have been eating lately. She even tried a cheesy crab dip the other day. I was shocked!!
I look for ways to add fruits and veggies into food that they do eat, but that is not easy!! They of course like sweet stuff so I searched the internet for a recipe to put some zucchini in and found this zucchini brownie recipe from Two Peas & Their Pod. I took the basic outline of what they had written and did some changes to make it even more healthier.
1 1/2 cups of sugar(Can cut back some of the sugar)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce(to replace the oil)
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup chocolate chips(more if you want them extra chocolatey!!)
1/2 cup chopped fresh cherries
I started out by taking the zucchini and placing it in the food processor. I didn’t grate it because I wanted it to blend in a little better and my kids not notice it quite so much. I should have squeezed some of the water out of it because the brownies came out a bit wet, but if you leave it in it does make the brownies more fudge like.
I then deseeded the cherries and chopped them fairly small. I could have put them in the food processor as well to make it easier(minus the stems and seeds)…
Combine the sugar, applesauce and flour in a mixer until combined. Add in the cocoa, zucchini, cherries, vanilla, salt and baking soda. After everything is mixed in, add the chocolate chips.
The original recipe called for an 8×11 pan, but I only had a 9×5 so I just used that. I wish I had put them in one that was just a bit bigger because it took longer to cook than I wanted. Spray the pan with cooking spray then add in your batter. Cook at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.
My oven is silly (so ready for my new one to arrive in two weeks!!) so I am not totally sure on how long it actually took mine to bake. At first my oven was on just fine, then I think one time while I checked on the brownies the pilot light went out so the brownies sat in the oven for over an hour without cooking at all!!!! Once I figured out the problem, they cooked in 15 minutes. My oven has serious issues. I don’t think it knows how to regulate the temperature for sure!! I guess that is what you get with moving into a foreclosure 🙂
Anyways, the brownies turned out gooey and oh so good!! They were more on the cake like texture than brownie, but with the added moisture they tasted nice and fudgy. The kids even ate them!! You could not even notice the zucchini. I originally added 1 cup or so of the cherries and I think that was too much, so around 1/2 cup should be better. Next time I think I will also decrease the sugar just a bit.
Overall they were good brownies/cake and to be able to give my kids a sweet treat with the added fruit/veggies is a keeper in my book. Thanks Two Peas & Their Pod for the inspiration.
If you have any favorite recipes to share that have hidden veggies or fruit in them, please share so I can test them out!!
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