I’m willing to bet that if the title didn’t give it away, you’d never look at that picture and think that zucchini is floating around in those brownies, right? I think this might be the very best way to sneak in more vegetables – hide them in chocolate. I’ll admit, while I was making these, I started to get skeptical. They’re egg-free, so before you add in the zucchini, the batter looks more like sand, really. I even brought the bowl of chocolate sand in to TJ, and made him look at how un-batter-like it looked. But, I absolutely hate wasting time and money on a recipe, and having it turn out horribly, so I persevered. I threw caution to the wind, stirred in that zucchini (and all of the zucchini juice – don’t drain it, you need the moisture!), and watched a batter magically appear. What do you know, grated zucchini has tons of moisture, and these brownies turned out to be insanely delicious! Zucchini: changing the world, one brownie at a time.

1 large zucchini

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups sugar 

2 tsp vanilla 

2 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Finely grate the zucchini, and set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the oil, sugar, and vanilla.

Beat in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in the zucchini until a batter forms.

Line a 13×9 dish with foil, and spray with cooking spray. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove the brownies from the pan, and cool on a wire rack.

Cut into squares and enjoy!

Adapted from this recipe