Janice's Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Can I please have your social security number and date of birth? Why may you ask? Because this recipe isn’t that complicated but two of my dear friends, Leanne and Leila, treat me like a God every time I make it. They love it. I was hoping to keep up the mystique. 

The recipe has a history. The first summer I was a pastor at my very first church, everyone wanted to invite the young couple (yes my husband and I were once young) to explore their favorite summer haunts. Janice and Hal Varney spent the summer in Rockport. Hal was a principal, so they had been retreating to Rockport since they had young children. Janice’s father originally bought the house and generations of children and grandchildren and great grandchildren enjoyed the freedom summer brought in Rockport. It was a rambling cottage and as Janice confided, the home was only standing out of habit. 


Before we left after a day exploring Rockport and Gloucester, Janice fed us a simple hearty dinner. On the table she placed baskets of bread. One bread was dark and moist. It wasn’t really bread. It was heaven. It was chocolate zucchini bread. I couldn’t stop eating it. 


When I asked her about it, she quickly found and gave me the recipe she had clipped out of the Globe early that week. I still think of her everytime I make this bread-- and of course Leila and Leanne. And I make this recipe at least five times a summer, b/c there is always so much zucchini. (BTW you can also use yellow squash).


Janice and Hal have since died. After Hal died Janice would sleep on his side of the bed. She missed him that much. They were one of the most loving couples I ever met, utterly devoted to one another. I suggest eating this bread with your beloved.


Ingredients

• 1 ¼ cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 3 cups of white flour
• ½ cup of cocoa 
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• ¼ tsp of baking powder
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp of all spice
• 3 cups of shredded zucchini
• ½ cup to a full cup (depending on your taste) of chocolate chips
• ½ cup of walnuts if you want

Preparation

1. In your trusty kitchenaid whip those eggs. I have learned this first step is important in all baking that does not include butter. After the eggs are frothy add the sugar and continue to whip on high for another three minutes. Add oil slowly while mixer is on high so as not to deflate the froth.  Finally add vanilla. 
2. Combine all dry ingredients and spices. Turn down mixer to sow speed and add ½ a cup of dry ingredients at a time to eggs. If the mixture gets too stiff add 1 cup of zucchini and then finish with dry ingredients. 
3. Fold in the zucchini. Do not be to exact about the zucchini. I usually throw in by handfuls. If you grated one mother of a zucchini and it came out to 3+ cups of less than 3 cups it doesn’t matter!
4. Finish with those chocolate chips.  I think there can never be enough chocolate. Just being honest.
5. Pour batter into two greased loaf pans (or whatever you have). Honestly I just use loaf pans so I can pretend this is bread. Bake at 350 for 40 ish minutes. Do not over bake. You want it just a bit gooey in the center. 

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