March Choc Chip Cookie: Zucchini Version

Zucchini cookies!  Why zucchini?   Cause they are green for St. Patrick's Day of course!

Well, they aren't super duper green, they just have little green speckles on them.

I tried to make them in secret, but when I went to shred the zucchini in the food processor I accidentally put the slicing blade on instead of the shredding blade. I may have said some unkind words to the food processor and zucchini.  Naturally, that caught the attention of my husband, who was suddenly curious about the goings on in the kitchen.

To my surprise, he didn't make a weird face about the vegetable addition to our St. Patrick's Day dessert.  You see, Mrblocko is not the biggest fan of zucchini. 

Guess what?  He Loved then!  With the oats, walnuts, dark Chocolate chips, and cinnamon, you simply cannot taste the zucchini. 

While we all loved the cookies, I thought the directions were a bit off.  First, my cookies did not spread at all.  Perhaps this was because I used less zucchini than the recipe called for, or because I used old fashioned oatmeal versus quick cooking oats?  I wound up flattening the dough before putting it in the oven.  Even with the flattened cookie dough, my cookies took 17 minutes for them to brown.

You would think that with the extended baking time these cookies needed they would have been hard as a rock.  When I took them off the baking sheet I had visions of Hagrid's rock cakes from the Harry Potter books.  Amazingly, they were soft and cake-like.  What a wonderful surprise!

I plan on growing zucchini in my garden this year, so this is a great recipe to keep on hand for when I (hopefully) have an over abundance of summer squash.



Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies from Nestle
1 1/2 c flour
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, softened
3/4c sugar
1 egg
3/4 t vanilla
1 1/2 c shredded zucchini (I used 2 small zucchini which were only 1 1/4 c)
1 c quick oats (I used old fashioned)
1 c chopped nuts (I used half walnut pieces
1 2/3 c (10-oz. pkg.)  Dark Chocolate Chips (I like Nestle because they are larger than their milk and semi sweet chips)

 350° F. Lightly grease baking sheets.(I used parchment paper.) Mix flour, cinnamon and baking soda in small bowl. Beat butter, sugar in large mixer bowl until well combined. Add egg and vanilla extract, beat well. Add zucchini; gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats, nuts and morsels. Drop by rounded teaspoon 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets. (I used a small cookie scoop and flattened the dough out with moist hands) Bake 9-11 min or until light golden brown around edges. (For me this took 17 minutes) Cool on baking sheets for 2 min; remove to wire rack (or paper towels) to cool completely. Store in tightly covered container at room temperature.