' A Paula Deen recipe from Food Network. Ari loves Paula Deen, and when she plays “cooking show” Paula’s the one she pretends to be. She’s got Paula’s speech down pat – including Paula’s accent. It’s hilarious to watch. Anyway, I made a variation in the recipe from the way originally written. It calls for more orange zest than I was able to obtain, but I think I like it with the lesser amount. I may, one day, try it with more. Until then, though, I like it this way.
This bread tastes really nice warm. The raw batter tasted very sweet, and I was worried that it would still be so sweet, but the orange zest helped cut it and made for a very nice bread.
Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tsp orange zest
Whipped cream, for serving
Zucchini ribbons, for serving
Preheat oven at 350 degrees F. Grease (2) 9 by 5-inch loaf pans.
Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, spices and baking soda.
In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy. Add sugar, and continue beating until well blended. Stir in oil, vanilla, zucchini, pecans, chocolate chips, and orange zest. Stir in sifted ingredients. Pour into prepared loaf pans.
Bake for 50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. Remove loaves from pans and cool. Chill before slicing. Serve with whipped cream and ribbons of zucchini.
