i don’t bake.  much.  it’s too dangerous.  kinda like french cooking.  just over the top fat and calories and then there’s all that sugar and <sigh> that is why i don’t bake.

that and this:  the phone rings and it’s my mom’s voice. “hiya honey, i just love the blog – it’s so wonderful.  i sent it to my friend marie who is my food guru and she says you write like james beard.” my reply was a somewhat muffled “oh, that’s nice” due to a mouthful of chocolate zucchini muffin while trying to imagine what james beard writes like, all the while knowing that this was most probably quite the stretch for just too many reasons to list.  to which my mom then asks “what are you eating?’ and i say “you’ll read about it in my next blog entry.  it’s a chocolate zucchini muffin.” to which she immediately responds “oh claudia, don’t gain all that weight back that you worked so hard at losing…”. 

it’s a wonder that i can function on this planet…

but that all being said and moving right along,  i do eat my fair share of dark chocolate and i had all this zucchini, so i had that vision of the guy rounding the corner with the peanut butter and the other guy with a zucchini except the peanut butter was a jar of let’s say fudge and… ok, i’ll stop.

after a quick google search and sizing up about half a dozen variations on the theme, i found a july ’05 blog entry from “101 cookbooks” and it felt right.  especially her suggestion of using coconut oil instead of vegetable oil.  the coconut oil that i use is raw and unrefined – extra virgin if you will – just wonderful.  and it’s much better for you than cooking with the wesson type highly processed oils.  spread it on your toast and you will be very happy.  it’s better than butter!  ok – it’s different than butter but i couldn’t resist saying that…

and they came out excellent!  totally moist and devils food cake like.  i used raw unprocessed cocoa powder that was mucho expensivo – bought during a phase when i thought i could be all raw all the time – and the chips were a vegan all natural bittersweet mini-chip.  the cinnamon and allspice along with the chocolate and coconut oil gave off an aroma that was intoxicating .  it all totally worked together. and there is no way one could ever guess they were loaded with zucchini.   i made 6 muffins and one loaf.  after plugging all the info into my food/diet/nutrition program that i sporadically obsess over, they came out to about 265 calories each and 15 grams of fat.  i allotted myself 2.  cary got 3 and i gave one away to my dear friend jesse who meets me on most mornings on belle meade blvd to ride my bike.  (i eat therefore i ride – my mantra while climbing the hills).  the loaf is going too – my friend dave is going home with that tonight after i make him dinner.  so, bye bye chocolate zucchini foodstuff.  it was nice to meet you…

BUT howzabout this?  just how serendipitous could it be that heidi fom 101 cookbooks had a brand spanking new blog entry entitled ‘my special zucchini bread recipe’.  i mean, wouldn’t you have to take this as a sign?  so today or tomorrow i am baking this one too and that should about cover my baking stint for the season. 

i just can’t handle the guilt.