What's Baking: Chocolate Zucchini Bread with Walnuts and Hazelnuts

Since I picked up three zucchinis at the farmers market last week, I decided the best way to use them up would be to make a couple loaves of bread. I found a recipe for yogurt-zucchini bread with walnuts in an issue of Food & Wine magazine from last September and decided to tweak it a little bit by adding in some cacao powder, ground cinnamon, and hazelnuts I had on hand. The resulting bread is subtly chocolaty with a hint of cinnamon and full of zucchini and nutty goodness.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread with Walnuts and Hazelnuts (printer-friendly version)

makes one 8" loaf and one 5.75" loaf

1 cup walnut halves

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 cup cacao powder

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons raw sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt

1 cup coarsely grated zucchini (from 1 small zucchini)

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8" bread pan and a 5.75" bread pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

2. Heat a skillet over medium-high heat on the stovetop. Add in the walnuts and hazelnuts and toast (this should take only a few minutes). Remove from the heat and chop the walnuts. Place the nuts in the freezer for a few minutes to cool.

3. In a medium-sized bowl, use a whisk to sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, cinnamon, and cacao powder.

4. In a large bowl, mix together the sugar and eggs. Stir in the vegetable oil and Greek yogurt.

5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix together between additions. Stir in the zucchini and nuts.

6. Spoon the batter into the prepared bread pans.

7. Bake in the oven for 45-60 minutes, or until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center of each loaf comes out clean.

8. Remove from the ovens and place the pans on a wire rack to cool. After 5 minutes, remove the bread from the pans and let cool completely. Wrap loaves in aluminum foil and refrigerate if not serving immediately.

(adapted from this Food & Wine recipe)