Dark Chocolate Cherry Zucchini Bread

I love fresh cherries. They’ve been on sale the past few weeks and I’ve been eating them by the pound. As good as cherries are on their own, with chocolate they’re out of this world.

I’d never made zucchini bread before this loaf. Something about a vegetable in a bread doesn’t scream “delicious”. But then again, when you add cherries, chocolate chips, and ganache, what wouldn’t be delicious. I threw a banana into the mix, too, because I thought the fruity flavor would help to mask any taste the zucchini might bring.

Normally sweet breads are loaded with oil. To reduce the oil and pump up the nutrition I swapped in Greek yogurt to keep it most and also full of protein.

If you have a picky eater in the family who might be turned off by specks of green in their bread, just peel the zucchini with a vegetable peeler before shredding it. 2 medium sized zucchinis should yield about 1 cup.

Dark Chocolate Cherry Zucchini Bread

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 1 loaf):

• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 1 6oz container plain greek yogurt
• 3 eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 1 banana, mashed
• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 1 1/3 cups gluten-free all purpose flour(or regular flour)
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup pitted and halved cherries

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the zucchini, yogurt, eggs, egg whites, banana, and oil.
3. Add in the flour, sugar, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda and mix again.
4. Lastly, gently fold in the chocolate chips and cherry halves.
5. Grease a 9-inch loaf pan and pour in the batter.
6. Bake until the center of the bread has set and the edges begin to brown—about an hour and 20 minutes.
7. Wait for the bread to cool before cutting. Garnish with melted chocolate or powdered sugar.

This came out a lot more dense than I anticipated, almost like pound cake(not that that’s a bad thing at all). Like any low-fat bread, I’d recommend eating this within 2-3 days before it turns stale.