Chocolate zucchini cupcakes

Need a healthy-ish chocolate treat? These chocolate zucchini cupcakes fill the bill admirably - and without totally derailing your vow to eat your veggies. Made with shredded zucchini and fat-free yogurt, these are sure to please even your pickiest eater.

Best of all, there's no need to drain and squeeze out the moisture in these babies. We want the moisture here. We shredded a 6-inch zucchini with the large size shredding disk in our food processor and had a bit to spare. We let it sit as we made the cupcake batter. Then we shook off any extra moisture that had accumulated at the bottom. You can shred with a finer size in your processor or on your box grater if you're truly trying to hide the veg from your family.

This recipe is adapted from a King Arthur Flour cake. We've changed the method of combining the ingredients significantly, and they work great with your mixer and SideSwipe beater. (naturally)

This recipe makes 12 good-size cupcakes. Let them cool completely for best flavor. They're even better the second day. If you like, you can drizzle them with melted chocolate chips or a cream cheese glaze. We made a glaze using about 1 ounce of warm cream cheese, 1/3 cup of powdered sugar, a couple of drops of vanilla extract and a 1/2 teaspoon of milk. You can play around with the ingredients to get an amount and consistency that you like. You will need very little it you want to do the drizzle as shown in the photo. 

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ingredients

• 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) butter
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 yogurt (Icelandic or Greek) or sour cream
• 1-1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons unsweetened, Dutch-process cocoa (our your favorite)
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional but tasty
• 1-1/2 cups shredded zucchini (about one 5-6" zucchini)
• 1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips

instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Fill muffin tin with 12 paper liners and spray lightly with cooking spray
2. Shred the zucchini using a food processor or box grater. Larger holes may leave some visible veg. If you're trying to hide it, use a smaller grating hole size
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa and espresso powder. Set aside.
4. In your stand mixer fitted with SideSwipe beat together at medium speed the butter, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until smooth.
5. On medium speed, beat in the oil, yogurt/sour cream, eggs and vanilla until well combined.
6. Add the flour/cocoa mixture and mix just until combine.
7. On your mixer's lowest speed, add in the zucchini and 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Mix until folded in. You can also do this by hand if you are concerned about over-mixing.
8. Spoon the batter into the prepared paper liners, about 3/4 full. The cupcakes do not rise as much as traditional cupcakes. The photo  shows about 2/3 full that we used for our test batch. This level will yield about 16 smaller cakes - good if you're limiting portion size.

1. Bake the cupcakes at 325F for 15-17 minutes, until the top springs back lightly when touched, and it seems set.
2. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes in the tin, then cool completely on a rack.
3. Yield: 12 standard cupcakes or 16 shorter cupcakes. After fully cooled, add an optional drizzle of melted chocolate or your favorite frosting.