Zucchini Brownies

Last week my dachshund Squirrelly was diagnosed with problems in his back and his neck and we've had to keep him in his kennel when we're not able to sit by him. He's not the type of dog to rest, but the medicine seems to be helping him sleep. I was going to make the family Zucchini brownies last week, but we were all taking turns sitting with him and I didn't have time. Today, during my husbands shift, I grated zucchini, mixed, baked and now the Squirrel is wrapped in a blanket and asleep on my foot, front paws crossed and snoring.

Recently I made a couple of produce bags out of an old green t-shirt while I watched the movie Illusion on Gaiam. The movie was kind of a funky blend of new age meets redemption. Kirk Douglas was very good. The bags have held up with apples, blood oranges and you guessed it, zucchini's! And they've survived the washing machine, I think I'm hooked. :)

The brownies turned out more like a cake/brownie. Chewy, but lighter than a brownie. Next time I'd use more walnuts. I think I'll serve it with some vanilla yogurt. (BTW Squirrely enjoyed the other half of the applesauce cup that I used in the brownies.)

Zucchini Brownies

2 C grated zucchini

1/4 C cinnamon applesauce
1/4 C (+ 2 T) plain Greek yogurt 
2 t vanilla

1 t salt

2 C all-purpose flour (unbleached)

1 1/2 C sugar

1/4 C cocoa

1 1/2 t baking soda

1/8 C walnuts chopped

Preheat oven and grease your baking pan. Combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and cocoa. In a separate bowl combine vanilla and kosher salt (I tried to get the salt to dissolve) then add the yogurt, applesauce and zucchini and mix. Grate the zucchini then add, along with the wet ingredients to the bowl with the dry ingredients and combine. Spray your brownie pan with cooking spray then add the batter and sprinkle the nuts on and press into the batter. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean

Recipe Source: Food Finery: Zucchini Brownies, my edits are in orange.

Enjoy,

Suz

(WW PointsPlus: makes 16 brownies, 4 points each)

Hot Cocoa Mix

The grocery store has been out of the cocoa mix that I like, so instead of buying brands I don't like I thought I'd try making my own mix. Here's Alton Brown's recipe so you can make your own hot cocoa mix too!

Hot Cocoa Mix
2 1/2 C powdered milk
2 C powdered sugar
1 C cocoa powder Dutch process (I added about 1/8 C more)
2 t corn starch
1 (scant) t salt (not kosher)
cayenne pepper sprinkles (left this out)
1/4 C Splenda brown sugar
1/4 C mini chocolate chips

Alton says to fill mug 1/3 full with mix and combine with hot water.

Recipe Source: Alton Brown's Hot Cocoa Mix 

Enjoy!

Suz

Muesli

It took me a while to wrap my brain around Muesli, a breakfast cereal developed over a century ago by a Swiss physician, and yet Muesli has become a staple at my house. My daughter has it in her lunch 2-3 days a week and loves it. I send about 1/3 C muesli with Greek Honey yogurt. (My post in 2009 was my introduction to Muesli.) I can't always find muesli at the store. So I've been looking over muesli recipes to see how you make it. It looked really easy, and like you can make it to your individual taste preferences.

Raisins with the cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and almond extracts sprinkled on.

Chopped almonds ready to be pan toasted.

Mixed together.

Taste test above. The toasted almonds really sparkle in this and I liked the touch of the almond extract that shone through as well. (I bet coconut would be really good too.)

Muesli
3 C rolled oats
1-2 T Oat Bran
Coconut (really wanted to use this, but was out of it)
1/2 C+ Almonds (chopped0
2/3-1 C Raisins
1/2 t Almond Extract
1/2 t Vanilla Extract
1/2 t Cinnamon
1/8 t Nutmeg (fresh grated)

I was not really 100% scientific about measurements with this recipe. 1/2 lid of vanilla and pour in enough raisins so you'll actually run into one every once in a while... you catch my drift. With the exception of the spices and extracts I think you can be kind of flexible. To get started add the oats and bran to a mixing bowl. Add the raisins to the oats then sprinkle on the cinnamon and nutmeg and then the almond and vanilla extracts. Stir to combine. Chop the almonds and toast them in a non-stick pan. Add almonds to oat mixture and stir to combine. At this point I tossed about half of the mixture back into the pan to toast the oats a little. When slightly toasted add back to the main bowl and stir to combine.

Want to make your own muesli? Google "muesli recipes" to get ideas of how other people put theirs together. Some people add sesame and sunflower seeds, others add walnuts, others make it fresh and add fresh apples. The biggest things that seem to separate muesli from granola are:

• The rolled oats are raw
• No added fat like butter or oil
• No added sugar
• No sweetened sauce baked on (the original recipe called for condensed milk that would have covered this!)

The original recipe is on the Wikipedia post about Muesli and it looks really good!

Enjoy!

Suzanne

Cookbook Bites Most Popular Recipes

Last night at midnight we went out the front door to welcome in the new year. Like pretty much every year, it becomes immediately apparent that we're the only one's in the neighborhood (at least in close proximity) who bang pots and pans. I can't help feeling like a rebel disturbing the peace with my soup pan and spoon in hand, clanking away into the darkness, welcoming the new year with my daughter beside me.

With the new year I thought I'd share some Cookbook Bites trivia that you might find interesting, including "all-time" most popular recipes in case you haven't seen them. Also, I love the global community who visit, so I've included a short list of where the majority of our blog readers (like you) are coming from. (You can see a bigger list here.) In the new year I hope you'll say "hello" in the comments! (If you're not 100% sure about writing comments in English you might want to try Google Translate.) Thanks to everyone for visiting! And good luck with your cooking adventures in the coming year!

Most Popular Recipes

• Greek Style Oven Roasted Potatoes
• The Columbia Restaurant "1905 Salad"
• Champignons Sautes au Beurre on Toast
• Cucumber Salad
• Nutella Hot Chocolate
• Apricot Freezer Jam
• Egg Salad Wrap

Cookbook Bites Visitors Hail From:

• United States 
• Canada
• United Kingdom
• Netherlands
• Malaysia
• France
• India
• Australia
• Russia
• The big list

Happy New Year!

Suz

Cocoa Fudge Cookies

It's almost Christmas and I have a cookie recipe to post,

I'm sharing it with a holiday story that doesn't go like most,

It's not like the wraith's haunting old Scrooge on Christmas Eve,

But the story of a neighbor turned despicable cookie-thief.

If you like true-crime stories grab a mug of cocoa, toss in some marshmallows, and curl up for a read. (Or scroll down for the recipe. Click here for last year's "Norwegian Butter Cookies recipe.")

Earlier this fall I signed up for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2011 asking to be paired with other's requesting healthy cookies. Before the cookies were due I tried to make Honey Crickle cookies "healthy" by replacing the oil with applesauce, and the sugar with honey... I ended up with some strange, chewy cookies. What was I going to do? I had two people requesting healthy cookies. I finally gave up and just went with a tried and true "healthy" recipe that I knew was good: Cocoa Fudge Cookies from Cooking Light (January 2002).

If you follow my Tweets you know I was out early shopping for organic vanilla, baking, and all excited to participate. We got them shipped off on the morning of the deadline and I forgot about the cookies, getting busy with all things December!

As the week rolled on I received my first box of cookies: Pri Aniki's, a soft thumbprint cookie from Meg at the blog Harmonious Belly. They're made with plum jelly from her backyard and sweetened with honey and have a gentle ginger taste. (Thanks Meg!)

The next box was full of Cinnamon-Spiced Butterscotch-Chip Pecan Cookies sent to me by Kiri with the Healthy Foodie Travels blog. These little cookies were like a biscotti snicker doodles. The pecans and butterscotch added richness to the cookie. (Thanks Kiri!)

It was so fun to get the cookies in the mail! After snapping Instagram's of the cookies, I realized my new cookie-swap friends might be on Twitter too and Kiri had just tweeted that she hadn't received her cookies yet. After checking the shipping details--which showed they had been delivered two days earlier... research ensued and it turned out her package had been stolen. I'm all-kinds of irritated that you can't send a package of cookies in the mail without it being kifed. Stupid cookie thief's.

Okay, pause, breathe, and take a comforting sip of cocoa. While the package stealer is still at large there is a bright lining to the story. There's going to be a New Year's sequel with a happy ending! Kiri's agreed that I can send her some cookies to a different address so she'll get some homemade cookies after all! 

So after the Christmas tale of cookie thiefs, chocolate homemade cookies, New Year's cookies, and new friends, I'm presenting you with a good low-fat chocolate cookie recipe. I hope you enjoy them. They're not your traditional holiday cookie, but they'd probably be pretty great drizzled with white chocolate and peppermint starlight mints crushed and sprinkled on. Still, they're pretty tasty, in a devils-food kind of way, all on their own.

(Note: Yes, Virginia this is a low fat recipe! I tripled the batch. That's why the butter is swimming around in well, er, butter.)

Cocoa Fudge Cookies

1 C flour (plus some)

1/4 t baking soda

1/8 t kosher salt

5 T butter

7 T unsweetened natural cocoa

2/3 C white sugar

1/3 C brown sugar (packed)

1/3 C Greek yogurt, low-fat, plain

1 t vanilla (I used organic this time)

Cooking spray

(This is word per word from Cooking Light's recipe) "Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, soda, and salt; set aside. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat; stir in cocoa powder and sugars (mixture will resemble coarse sand). Add yogurt and vanilla, stirring to combine. Add flour mixture, stirring until moist. Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 8 to 10 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pans 2 to 3 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pans; cool on wire racks."

(Note: I increased the flour in my cookies a little, like about 1/4 C for the triple batch. To get them to set up a little better. I think you may just want to do a test cookie depending on your altitude and how much you want the cookie to spread.)

Recipe Source: Cocoa Fudge Cookies, Cooking Light, January 2002 (BTW There's a nutrition breakdown at this link. Thanks Cooking Light!)