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Well, well...it is official, today I made the WORST recipe ever. So bad, my husband said, as he walked to the trash can to chuck it, "you've never made anything bad, except this, this is horrible"! He used words like leather and rubber to describe this creation that was supposed to be decadent and chocolaty. He also demanded we throw it all away immediately and we should not share it with anyone. Even going so far as to say I am not to take it to work, unless I want to be fired. (I work in an Engineering Firm, not like I work at one of Bobby Flay's Restaurant's or anything.)
So what did I make you ask? Well since my garden produces the some of the largest Zucchini's I have ever seen, see picture above, I was looking to make something other than grilled veggies again. Today, I was aiming for dessert and settled on this recipe I found on Pinterest for Chocolate Zucchini Brownies. Yes, I know can you believe it, a recipe from Pinterest that was awful. I put all my trust into a posting from social media and believed I may actually have stumbled upon what was going to be the "Best Brownies Ever". I should have just stuck with my tried and true recipe for Chocolate Zucchini Cake that I have been using for years, but saw something new and figured what the hell, let's try.
To defend my baking honor, I will say this, I KNEW as I was going over the ingredient list that it was missing something. Well, after baking and tasting, my hunch was correct and I confirmed that it was missing a few something's. So today marks 3 things;
1. I am human and make mistakes. Whether it's just a simple baking mistake or anything in life, mistakes are how we learn and what we learn from. Without mistakes, life would be boring.
2. Organization is key. If my recipes were better organized as I have been threatening to do all summer, I would not have tried that recipe I found on Pinterest while I was searching Pinterest for organization hints and tips.
And 3. Sometimes, it's OK to just go with what you know, trust, and are comfortable with. Those are the things that give us comfort and security, and damn good Chocolate Cake!
So if you want to try a REALLY good recipe, here is my Chocolate Zucchini Cake. Looks like I will be making it this weekend too...YUMMMY!!!
Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup vegetable oil* 1/2 tsp. salt
1 3/4 cups sugar 4 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs 2 1/2 cups grated Zucchini
1/2 cup buttermilk 1/4 cup ground walnuts (optional)
1 tsp. vanilla extract 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips**
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
Preheat oven to 325. Cream together butter, vegetable oil and sugar. Add eggs, milk and vanilla and blend well. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients together. Blend dry ingredients into butter mixture. Add grated zucchini and mix well. Spread into a 9 x 13 baking dish. Sprinkle walnuts and chocolate chips on top. Bake for 45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.
*for the vegetable oil, I substitute 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup applesauce. you can also substitute all applesauce for the oil if desire.
**In addition, I also like to throw about a cup of chocolate chips into the mix to bake inside the cake as well as on top.
