Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins - Low Sugar

Healthy can truly be delicious!  Oh.....my......gosh.......these are yummy. I think I could even get my granddaughters to eat these (and they would not touch zucchini with a ten foot pole!)  Of course if I made these for them I would grate the zucchini finer so it would be WELL hidden!!

Another thing  I did was change the chocolate chips to Ghirardelli premium baking chips that are 60% cacao. They have a higher concentration of cocoa butter so they melt really well and even after the muffins have cooled, the chocolate still has a wonderful gooey texture.  YUM!

I hope you love these too!!

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup Truvia Baking Blend
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup Ghirardelli premium baking chips (60% cacao/bittersweet chocolate)

Preheat oven to 325.  Spray the muffin tin with a non stick spray or use muffin liners. Set aside.

Beat butter, unsweetened applesauce, and Truvia baking blend in a large mixing bowl.  The mixture will be lumpy - almost curdled in appearance.  Add the eggs.  Mix to combine.  Add the vanilla and buttermilk and mix again.

In a separate small bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients  slowly - adding 1/3 of the dry each time and blending in between. Do not overmix.  Add the zucchini and chocolate and stir just until combined.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups, filling about 3/4 full.  Bake for 15-17 minutes or until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cool on a wire rack for 3-5 minutes and then remove to the wire rack to cool completely.

The texture of these muffins is almost brownie like, especially when you get a bite of that melty gooey chocolate! I hope you enjoy these!!

I think I need to make another batch.  YES.... they are THAT good!

Who says chocolate isn't a breakfast food?  Zucchini makes everything healthy!

You can see how these are brimming with zucchini.  

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Peach Melba Cobbler

I don't know about where you are living, but, but the peaches that have been available here this year have been incredible.  I am not always a huge peach fan, I think because I have had my share of mushy flavorless peach mpostors. You know the kind? They look so good on the outside,but you cut into them and you just know that first bite will not be memorable, at least not in a good way.

But this summer has been an entirely different experience.  Ohhhhhhhhh goodness....... they have been juicy and sweet and just plain delicious, bite after bite........pound after pound!  So I have been eating them for snacks and cooking with them.  And when I saw this recipe on Iowa Girl Eats (love her!), I knew I had to make it with a twist. She used peaches and blueberries, but I reverted to my Peach Melba obsession and used raspberries.  AND...... I made it low sugar.   It was so delicious. The only thing I would change is to put it in a smaller, deeper dish so the fruit layer has more depth and then the cobbler would cover it completely - or at least almost!

It is delicious plain, with whipped cream or Cool Whip, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or Healthy Choice vanilla bean yogurt (see pictured below) and works either hot or cold.  You just cannot go wrong!!

And in my world,  when it is mainly fruit, it works for breakfast too! :)

Low Sugar Peach Melba Cobbler

adapted from Iowa Girl Eats Peach A Berry Cobbler

1 c. flour
1/4 c. Truvia Baking Blend (or 1/2 c. sugar)
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. butter, softened
1/8 c. Splenda Brown Sugar Blend (or 1/4 c. brown sugar)
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 c. cold water
3 c. sliced fresh peaches, skin on (3 large peaches)
1 c. fresh raspberries
1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. Truvia Baking Blend (or 2 Tbsp. sugar)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 350.

Topping Mixture:

Combine the flour, 1/4 cup Truvia baking blend, and baking powder in a large bowl and stir to combine.  Add milk and butter and stir until relatively smooth and set aside.

Fruit Mixture:

In a large saucepan, whisk together the Splenda brown sugar blend, cornstarch, and water until smooth.
With heat on medium, add the peaches and raspberries,  and cook until mixture is thick and bubbly, mixing with a wooden spoon.  Add the remaining butter (1 Tbsp) and lemon  juice and stir until the butter is melted.

Pour mixture into an ungreased 1 1/2 quart baking dish (I used a 10"x10" glass dish. Next time I would use a smaller, deeper dish for more fruit concentration and a better coverage of cobbler batter.)  Spoon topping mixture over the top of the fruit.  It does not have to be even or cover completely.  Blend the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle over the top.

Place baking dish on a cookie sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the dough comes out clean.

Are these not the most beautiful peaches???

Peaches and raspberries simmering goodness...

All cooked and waiting  for the cobbler dough!

Ready for the oven with a sprinkle of  cinnamon  sugar.

All cooked and ready for a taste test!!

This is delicious on its own, with vanilla frozen yogurt or ice cream, or whipped cream or topping.

I love the individual serving cups of frozen yogurt from Healthy Choice!

Who wants the first bite???

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Yumminess!!

While I was trying to figure out if I really wanted to start a blog, I spent a lot of time trying new recipes that were appearing on some of my favorite blogs.  That is another new fascination for me.  I have collected cookbooks since I was a young adult. I weed them out periodically, but I still cannot resist a new one.  I am a huge fan of Paula Deen, her sons, the Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond,  and a variety of cooking favorites.I have been trying to stop buying the hard copies and put them on my Kindle Fire. So far that is working pretty well, but every now and then I just want to hold the book in my hands and turn the pages!

So the blogs have satiated my need for more recipes - they are sitting in my inbox almost every day!! Those that I think I might try or that intrigue me, I save to One Note.  If you have not used that program, you need to give it a try.  My friend Ducky got me hooked on it years ago and I am so grateful to her!  I now have virtual notebooks for all sorts of things and  of course one is now devoted to recipes.  I love having them so available so I don't have to go searching for something that sounded good a few weeks ago - I just have to find it in One Note.  It is an organizer's dream!!

I digressed - sorry.  Back to cooking. So one recipe that I could not get out of my head was from Iowa Girl Eats- Orange Skillet Chicken with Winter Fruit Salsa.  OH..... MY..... GOSH.......... that was so good!!!   It is an explosion of citrusy goodness in your mouth. The link to the recipe is above, but here is the short, simple version!!

Sear well seasoned chicken breasts in olive oil

Make an orange juice reduction sauce

And while the chicken is resting and the sauce is bubbling and becoming intoxicating, make the winter fruit salsa of chopped kiwi, orange slices, chopped, and pomegranate seeds.  It was my first time tasting pomegranate seeds and they were delicious.  And I used my diminishing supply of Honeybell oranges.  They are only available from FL one month of the year (January - I have them shipped as late as possible!) and each  one has the juice of a full glass of orange juice protected beneath that skin.  They are a must try - but you will have to wait til next year.

Here is the end result.....

Doesn't that look good enough to eat???  Trust me.... it is!!

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