Divine Vegan Zucchini Brownies #Choctoberfest #MakeSomethingDivine

As one of my sweetest friends used to say, “Life is short. Eat dessert first.” … these lightly fudgy brownies have a delightful chocolate flavor and a nice sweet chewy fudge texture, yet they’re healthier than your typical brownie … you’d never guess there’s zucchini hiding in there (unless you’re very carefully examining for green bits). Also, they have no eggs or dairy, so yes, they are completely vegan.

Disclaimer: Nobody paid me for this post, but Divine Chocolate sent me some lovely cocoa and three of their beautiful chocolate baking bars.

I felt like a kid in a candy store when the Divine chocolate package arrived on my doorstep! Nothing makes me happier than getting FREE chocolate in the mail. Well, okay, maybe not NOTHING, but hey, happy dances DO happen when there’s chocolate on the doorstep. C’mon, admit it. It’s worth a happy dance.

There was a fabulous scent of chocolate when I popped open the little tin of cocoa that they sent. I couldn’t wait to try it! And the Divine Chocolate baking bars are fair trade, non-GMO, and Vegan Society Certified. My mind is still churning, wondering what I else shall create with this Divine chocolate …

(This is where my work friends would typically say “hey, I should get in on that action”, and then I remind them that they would have to work on creating and maintaining a food blog and all of what that entails … and then they say they’ll gladly go ahead and pay for their chocolate.)

For me, I’ll keep doing what I do on this blog … not because it makes me money (because honestly, it costs me money to keep it going … and looking at other food blogger sites, I’m SO annoyed with all the ads). I do this because I love it. I love sharing my recipes and making people happy. Food is one of primal things that connects people to each other. Through sharing food, we are building community and by building community, we are connecting the world, building acceptance and breaking down the walls between us.

Food is love. It always has been, ever since our ancestral roots, and it always will be.

Speaking of that, I brought these brownies, along with a big pot of soup, to my friend’s house after her house had been flooded for the second time this year. She and her husband had been working for a week, without hot water for a shower and no stove/oven for cooking, cleaning up a disgusting flooded basement full of mold and stink. They clearly needed some love and support from friends.

Their stove/oven still weren’t working the day I went to visit, but they did have electricity, so I heated up the soup before I left and brought along my crockpot. Once I got there and plugged in the slow cooker and made sure the soup was staying hot, I went out to help with the mess.

Our evening was devoted to cleaning up the yard, which had been flooded and was full of cornstalks and overgrown plants and weeds. We chopped and pulled and picked up the mess … and even found a box that had wedged itself inside the plant debris that contained several moldy pictures with frames and some very damages art supplies. We sat that box aside for them to examine and continued working …

Shortly after we started working, the hot water was turned on … and my friend disappeared while we worked away at the yard. I was SO happy that she did … we came to help with some of the work so she and her husband could (for a change) take a break. I was super glad to find that we had accomplished our goal and allowed her to take a little time for some self care.

Anyway, once we’d cleaned up the yard and she had emerged from her hot shower, we were all starved, so I brought out the brownies.  Yes, we had a nice hearty soup and homemade bread and other things to eat, but at that moment, chocolate seemed just the right thing. My friends gobbled them up … several brownies each.

And then they gulped down the soup … and the bread … and we chowed on all of that plus watermelon and cheese like we hadn’t eaten for a week.

BTW, this recipe is another recipe I created for #Choctoberfest. If you haven’t entered the giveaway yet, make sure you do before it’s over! The prize package is worth over $400:

Enter the giveaway now:

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Entries from spam or inactive accounts are invalid. #Choctoberfest bloggers, sponsors, and their immediate families/households are not eligible to win. This giveaway is not affiliated with or sponsored by Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Pinterest.

And now, for the recipe:

Divine Vegan Zucchini Brownies

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes
• Total Time: 1 hour
• Yield: 16 brownies 1x

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Dry ingredients:

• 2 cups white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/4 cup Divine cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (optional)

Wet ingredients:

• 1/2 cup avocado oil
• 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
• 2 cups (packed) finely shredded zucchini
• 1 Tablespoon brewed chai tea, coffee or water

Mix in: 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)

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Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray a 13 x 9 x 2 inch pan with cooking spray.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Stir in the wet ingredients until fully mixed. The dough will be very thick, like cookie batter. Let the dough sit for at least 15 minutes to let the moisture from the zucchini start to soak up the flour. You’ll notice the batter will start to soften and look a little more like brownie batter. Stir in the walnuts.
3. Spread the batter evenly out into the pan. It might resist you a bit because it’ll still be thick, but do your best. Don’t worry if it looks a little thin in places … it’ll rise as it bakes.
4. Bake at 350 F for 25 – 30 minutes. Let cool for at least 10 minutes, then cut and enjoy!

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Notes

RECIPE SOURCE: http://www.sumptuousspoonfuls.com/

© Copyright 2019, Sumptuous Spoonfuls. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to publish any of my images, please ask first. If you want to republish this recipe as your own, please re-write the recipe in your own words or link back to this post for the recipe.

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Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 brownie
• Calories: 212
• Fat: 9.6 g

Make sure you check out the participating bloggers’ #Choctoberfest Recipes:

Triple Chocolate Kitchen • 2 Cookin Mamas • A Day in the Life on the Farm • A Labour of Life • A Little Fish in the Kitchen • A Southern Fairytale • Amy’s Cooking Adventures • An Affair from the Heart • Bottom Left of the Mitten • Broken Teepee • Bunsen Burner Bakery • Champagne and Coconuts • Cindy’s Recipes and Writings • Cook with Renu • Cook’s Hideout • Cookaholic Wife • Crafty Cooking Mama • Daily Dish Recipes • Dixie Chik Cooks • Everyday Eileen • Fairyburger • Family Breakfast Recipes • First Timer Cook • Fix Me a Little Lunch • Frugal & Fit • Fun Happy Home • Get the Good Stuff! • Glenda Embree • Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks • How Was Your Day? • I Can Cook That • Join Us, Pull up a Chair • Karen’s Kitchen Stories • Kate’s Recipe Box • Kelly Lynn’s Sweets and Treats • Life & Medicine Blog • Life on Food • Long Distance Baking • Lynchburg Mama • Makes, Bakes and Decor • Making Miracles • Mama Needs Cake • Memories In The Kitchen • Our Good Life • Our Sutton Place • Palatable Pastime • Queenslee Appétit • Reviewz & Newz • Sarah Cooks the Books • Sarah’s Bake Studio • Seduction In The Kitchen • Shockingly Delicious • Simple Family Crazy Life • Simply Inspired Meals • Sneha’s Recipe • Style Island • Sumptuous Spoonfuls • Sweet Coralice • Sweet Dash of Sass • Take Two Tapas • That Recipe • The Awesome Muse • The Beard and The Baker • The Delicious Spoon • The Food Hunter’s Guide to Cuisine • The Freshman Cook • The Redhead Baker • The Schizo Chef • The Spiffy Cookie • The Urben Life • Trampling Rose • Turnips 2 Tangerines • Who Needs A Cape? • Wildflour’s Cottage Kitchen • Zesty South Indian Kitchen