Chocolate Zucchini Cookies....with Walnuts and Chocolate chips!!

These cookies are by far my absolute favorite! The moment I saw this cookie on the Tasty Kitchen Blog, I knew I would be definitely trying this one out. I had plenty of zucchini at home, mainly bought for a grilled zucchini recipe experiment, but finally it made way into these cookies ;-)

I made these cookies twice in a single week, thats how much we loved them. First I made them without the nuts and chocolate chips, so that Lil Appu could enjoy them as well. Next I made a batch for a Bake Sale in my office, where I did the actual recipe with all the nuts and choco-chip goodness and they sold off in a jiffy!
I served these cookies to our neighbor's little girl and she ate 3 of them in one go, without even drinking her milk. Not to mention how much my little fella loves them, I had sent him a cookie (without the nuts and choco chips) for snack time at his daycare and his teacher has written 'He ate ALL his cookie' :-D Big SMILE!!!
Here's a sneek-peek of how the two batches I made look from inside. Both were equally good!

Its a soft, brownie or cake like cookie with a lovely cinnamony chocolate flavor and lots of walnuts and chocolate chips , mmmmmm all my favorite stuff , and the zucchini is the hidden ingredient here. I'll bet you, no one, not even you , would realize there is zucchini in these cookies. The whole house smelled amazing while they were baking, which I did hint to my readers on my facebook page ;-)
I loved the cracked up crunchy and puffy exterior and really soft fudgy interior....are you still reading?? High time you started making them :-)

I followed the recipe almost exactly, but the only modification I did was to add 1cup All-purpose flour and quarter cup Whole wheat flour, to get the best of both words ;-) and I added a whole grated zucchini , which was a little more than the 1cup measure as per the recipe. No regrets, they came out great!

I've tried to provide step wise pictures, because I really want you to make them. I got almost 30 - 35 cookies with this recipe. I scooped out teaspoon measured dough for each cookie, but it was big enough.

Chocolate Zucchini Cookies Recipe
You'll need
Whole Wheat Flour Or All Purpose Flour - 1¼ cup
Baking Soda - 1 teaspoon
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Cinnamon - 2 teaspoons
Unsweetened Cocoa Powder - ½ cup
Unsalted Butter, Softened - 5 Tablespoons
Vanilla Extract - 1 teaspoon
Brown Sugar - ½ cup
White Cane Sugar - ½ cup (I used regular white sugar)
Whole Egg - 1
Shredded/Grated Zucchini - 1 cup  (finely grated is better)
Confectioner's (powdered) Sugar (for rolling the Dough in) - 1 cup
Optional:
Walnuts, Chopped - ½ cup
Semi-sweet (or Dark) Chocolate Chips - 1 cup

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.


2. In a bowl, whisk or sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cocoa powder . Set aside.

3. In another large mixing bowl combine the butter, vanilla extract and sugars. Use a stand or hand mixer to mix until creamy. (I used my hand mixer and later used a spoon to mix well)

4. Add the egg and grated zucchini and mix just until combined.

5. Pour in the flour mixture , little at a time and mix just until combined.

6. Add the chopped walnuts and chocolate chips (optional), mix to integrate into dough.
7. Sprinkle confectioner’s (powdered) sugar on a plate/bowl so you can roll the balls of cookie dough in the sugar. Roll the dough into balls and roll them in the sugar if desired.

8. Space cookie dough evenly on a parchment-lined or lightly oiled cookie sheet. .

 9. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes

10. Transfer the cookies onto a cookie rack for them to cool down, else they may sweat and get soggy.

Helpful Suggestions:

1. The Zucchini can be grated very finely or just shredded  in thicker strips. Both ways , the texture of the cookies remains the same.

2. It would be best to shred the zucchini and leave the plate or board titling a bit (almost at a  45degree angle), so that any excess water from the zucchini drains off, this enables the dough to be less watery. (But do not squeeze the water out from the zucchini)

3. I used a teaspoon to scoop out the dough and roll in the powdered sugar. The cookie puffs up really well. If you want a larger cookie, use a tablespoon measure scoop.

Now wasn't that just easy....In less than an hour , beautiful cookies are ready and the house smells awesome! Here's one for you, a nice big soft and yummy cookie! 

Now how many of you thought my hand looks really huge and chubby ?? ;-) I kept my hand too close to the camera I guess....Oh well ;-)  See you next time with another lovely recipe!!

Sending this post to the evnt:
1. Cookie Party hosted by Shema of Lifescoops

-Manju