If I’ve made anything clear, it’s that I love sneaking vegetables into sweets. It makes me feel less guilty. Plus, if I can sneak some sort of protein in there, EVEN BETTER. I’m traveling for work this week. It just so happened that I had some zucchini I wasn’t able to eat before I leave. Enter zucchini brownies.
What started off as mis-reading a recipe, turned into a DELICIOUS take on these zucchini brownies. I’ve adapted the recipe from Fabulessly Frugal.
Healthy Zucchini Protein Brownies
Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 cup grated zucchini
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 scoops vanilla protein powder
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8in round baking pan with parchment paper and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray. Tip: Cut a piece of parchment paper bigger than you need, and put another baking pan on top of the sheet (before spraying). This will help the parchment paper form to the pan.
- In a medium saucepan over medium low heat, combine oil, chocolate chips, and cocoa, whisking or stirring occasionally, until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar. Then add the eggs and whisk until combined. Stir in the zucchini. Fold in the flour, baking soda, and salt, until batter is well-combined, but don’t over mix. Stir in protein powder.
- Spread batter into prepared pan and bake for about 28 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with only a few moist crumbs.
- Let the brownies cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. Lift them out of the pan via the parchment paper and allow to cool on a cooling rack for about an hour. Slice and serve.
- For storing, use an airtight container with layers separated by parchment paper, or store in groups in baggies.
These are delicious. If you’re not doing a direct comparison between my recipe and the original, I only made a couple of changes.
- 8in round baking dish. Once upon a time, I had a 9×9 baking dish, but I left it at a boy’s apartment when I made him cupcakes. Don’t make boys baked goods.
- 2 cups of zucchini, not drained. This was where I made the original mistake. I thought the recipe called for two cups, but it only called for one. I also didn’t squeeze out the extra moisture because…
- Vanilla protein powder. Instead of using standard vanilla extract, I wanted to see if there was a way to add a bit of substance to these. Not squeezing out the excess moisture allowed for a bit more dry ingredients to be added.
- I use Purely Inspired Organic Protein. I found it at Sam’s Club, and it’s great for this and for workouts!
- No frosting. I haven’t even tried it with frosting, but I think skipping it helps me feel better about eating a brownie for breakfast.
These Healthy Zucchini Protein Brownies are some of my new favorites. Pair them with coffee at breakfast, or top with some ice cream for a dessert that won’t make you feel too terribly guilty.
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