Chocolate Zucchini Bread

My son slept over a friend's house recently, and when he came home he said "You should make zucchini bread with chocolate chips in it.  Aiden's mom did and it was really good."  Hmmm, I was thinking "Thanks for the idea, because we have LOTS of zucchini to use up" so the next day I started in on making it.

I decided at the last minute though to make chocolate zucchini bread.  Mostly because I feel like I throw chocolate chips into lots of things, and I just felt like I wanted to try something different.  I have to say that I am thrilled with this bread.  It tastes like chocolate cake, with a similar texture...not so much like a "quick bread" texture. 

You can't taste any zucchini and it's super moist, which means it's great for kids!  Personally, I prefer my regular zucchini bread, but that's mostly because chocolate isn't my favorite thing in the world.  However, for all you chocolate lovers out there, I think you will really like this bread and your kids will thank you for making it (just tell them it's chocolate bread & I promise they won't even know there's zucchini in it)! 

Chocolate Zucchini Bread (makes 2 loafs, or one regular size loaf + 2 mini loafs)

2 cups flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
4 cups zucchini, shredded/grated
½ cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and spray loaf pans with cooking spray.  Place flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder in a small bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl beat oil, white sugar, brown sugar, and eggs until fluffy, 1-2 minutes.  Add vanilla and yogurt and mix until combined.

Gently stir in the zucchini, then add the flour mixture to the batter and stir just until combined. Add chocolate chips and stir to incorporate them throughout the batter.

Divide the batter evenly between the pans.  I have a bottle of cinnamon sugar, so I decided to sprinkle it all over the top of the batter, but you can skip this step if you want.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until a cake tester or toothpick comes out clean.  Let it cool on a rack for 10 minutes and then remove from pans.