I Am Sorry, But the Green Fleck's Are Only Zucchini

    

~I have always been pretty rough on the zucchini.  I really don’t bear them any ill will, but I have learned the hard way that with zucchini you must have a strong, definitive offense.  If you garden or live near a gardener, you know how quickly some friendly, neighborly exchanging can spiral down a slippery slope into shopping bags full of zucchini hanging on your door whenever you return home.  

      It is funny to me that we are such a waste-full society, trash cans and dumpsters overflowing with endless crap we are bored with or won’t bother to recycle, but no one will ever throw away a zucchini.  We serve them to our families four times a day…at first in salads and on crudité trays, then gratined, frittered, frittataed and casseroled… finally shredding and hiding them in pancake batter, smoothies and cookie dough.   

      We take a box full into work where they will sit because everyone knows if you are caught taking one, the next day a shopping bag full will be hanging off your desk chair. The smartest gardener/cook ever was whoever thought to stuff a zucchini blossom.  Personally, I have never had a batch turn out to be anything but a greasy mess…but I make them all the time, simply because it is an excellent guilt-free way to wipe out a generation of zucchini. 

Here is a perfect recipe for hiding zucchini...in retrospect, it seems a cruel trick to serve a plate of deliciously rich brownies with green flecks inside only to have it turn out to be zucchini.

Zucchini Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting

11/4 cup butter, softened

11/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup vanilla yogurt

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup baking cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups zucchini, shredded

1 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

4 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour a 9” x 13” cake pan.

Cream 1 cup butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs, beating well after each one.

Beat in yogurt.

Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.

Add to the butter mixture, bit by bit until well mixed. 

Pour into the cake pan, bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clean.

Meanwhile, beat the cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended.

Gradually add in the powdered sugar, beating constantly.

Frost the brownies when cool.