Zucchini-Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Flattened Cookie (left) vs. Unflatted (right)

My aunt has been known to say that you can tell those that don't have many friends in the grocery line as they are the ones buying zucchini.  Well thankfully my mom is a great friend and sent some my way as she had a surplus in her garden!  Otherwise I would be one of those friendless sad people in line having to buy my zucchini!! Anyways, I found this great zucchini chocolate chip cookie recipe on pinterest from a blog called Cooking Classy - I've linked the original recipe here.  (The pics on that site are way better!)  My boys aren't a fan of zucchini but they LOVE it in these cookies!  


Zucchini-Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar (1/2 cup in original recipe)
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini (from about 1 - 1 1/2 medium)
1 1/2 cup quick oats (1 cup in original recipe)
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 2/3 in original recipe)
(3/4 cup chopped pecans or walnuts - I omitted)

Mix the first four ingredients together in a medium bowl.  In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugars together, then add the egg and vanilla.  Once well mixed, add the zucchini.  Next, slowly add the dry ingredients to your wet mixture and once all incorporated, add 1/2 cup of the chocolate chips.  As in the original recipe, I saved 2/3 and added the remainder on top of the cookies to make them a little more enticing to my boys!  Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet with 2" space between them.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 11-14 min.  **My first dozen I baked for 20 minutes as they didn't really flatten, so my 2nd dozen I flattened with a fork and they came out perfect at 12 minutes. 

Unflattened x5 cookies on left and the rest flattened!

I omitted the nuts due to allergies in our house and added an extra 1/2 cup of oats to substitute.  

We went through a half a dozen cookies before the next dozen was pulled from the oven!  Using my medium Pampered Chef cookie scoop, this recipe made 25 cookies.

Egg Free Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

Hello friends!
So my youngest has an egg and peanut allergy, thus leading me to find new adventures in baking.  I am cautiously optimistic that he will outgrow these allergies, but in the meantime I've been experimenting with substitutions in some of my favorite recipes.  My (and my kids') favorite muffin recipe is from my dear friend Camille - her delicious Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins, which I previously blogged about here. I only did one small teeny weeny change to it, and that was to substitute the egg for ground flax seed mixed with water!  That's it!  So here is the updated recipe:

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

1 1/2 cups white sugar (I only added 1 cup actually)

3 TBSP milled flax seed 

9 TBSP water

1 cup applesauce

2 cups flour (I used 1 1/2 cup white flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)

2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

2 cups mashed bananas

1/2 cup chocolate chips or however much you want! (optional)

Flax Seed and Water

Mix flax seed and water together in a medium bowl and let sit for 5 minutes.  Grease 2 muffin tins (skip this step if you're using paper liners). Beat together sugar and flax seed mixture, then mix in apple sauce. In a separate larger bowl, mix flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Make a well in the center and add your wet mixture to your dry mixture, and stir only to mix (don't over stir or your muffins will be heavy!).  Mix in mashed bananas and chocolate chips. Pour (or fling if you're so inclined) into muffin tins or paper liners until cup is about 2/3 full and bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.  This recipe only made 18 muffins, while the original recipe made 2 dozen!  

I phoned Hershey's, and was happy to find out that it will definitely say if there is a possibility of cross contamination between the chocolate chips and any nuts on the back of the chocolate chip package.  So I can use this brand with confidence, but will still be double and triple checking the label every time before use it, I'm sure!