As someone who loves to cook healthy meals and generally eats healthy, baking in my mind would have been off limits for having healthy options. I have recently been wanting to start baking though and simply try out a different type of cooking. As I was considering different baking options, I remembered back to when me and my best friend were roommates our freshman year of college and the multiple distinct memories I have of her bringing back home to our dorm a huge loaf of chocolate chip zucchini bread her grandma would make for the both of us to share. We would sit on the floor and cut thick slices, warm them up in the microwave and drool at how amazing it tasted. Her grandma was the real deal when it came to baking. While remembering this, I had a sudden burst to make my own kind of chocolate chip zucchini bread, but give it a healthy twist.
With a lot of research on recipes, I looked through healthier versions of yummy zucchini breads, and was surprised to find a bunch in the baking world that were healthier options and used all different kinds of substitutions to unhealthy ingredients. I came up with a final recipe I narrowed down and though I’d enjoy the most, as well as made a few tweaks to it for my own personal preference. Keep reading if you want to hear how I made a healthy chocolate chip bread utterly crave worthy!
LETS GET STARTED
Ingredients:
Makes 2 bread pans
-1 Cup 100% whole wheat flour
-1 Cup rolled oats
-1/4 Cup ground flaxseed
-1 Tbl cinnamon
-1 Tbl baking powder
-1 Tsp salt
-1/3 Cup non fat greek yogurt
-1/4 Cup honey
-3 eggs
-1 Tsp vanilla extract
-1 Cup grated zucchini
-2 mashed bananas
-3 Tbls mini chocolate chips (optional)
-1/3 Cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix the flour, oats, flaxseed, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.
3. Shred your zucchini.
4. In a separate bowl mix the non fat greek yogurt, honey, eggs, vanilla extract, and mashed bananas. Add your shredded zucchini now as well.
5. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix together. Add the mini chocolate chips now as well if you decide you want them in.
6. Line two bread pans (8 in.) with parchment paper and spray the ends with out paper with non stick spray, or a more natural option I like is rubbing those ends with a little olive oil or coconut oil.
7. This mixture is enough to fill two pans so evenly pour enough into both.
8. Sprinkle the walnuts or pecans on each loaf as well as a little extra cinnamon if you would like. After making this for my first time, I realized I put a little too many walnuts and that they needed to be more broken up instead of such big chunks. So I suggest smashing some of the walnuts before hand unless you prefer them to be larger.
9. Put both pans in the oven once it reaches 350 degrees and set a timer for 55-60 minutes. Check the loafs with a toothpick at 55 minutes. If the toothpick comes out clean then they are ready!
10. Once its finished baking let the pans cool for about 10 minutes, then slice and enjoy!
I absolutely loved this recipe once I finished! The two loafs were more than enough, and I was able to cut a few slices to give them to friends and their families to try. Make sure to keep the loafs in an air tight container and wrapped in foil in the fridge so it stays fresh for longer. Whenever you want a slice, simply heat it up in the microwave for 15-20 seconds and its perfect! Enjoy!
KAT
