100% Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread (with Dark Chocolate, Nuts & Sunflower Seeds)

I got two larger zucchini squash this week in my CSA share and I decided to try baking a zucchini bread. To add a little extra flavor & nutrition, I tossed in wheat germ, dark chocolate, walnuts and sunflower seeds too. Yum! DH is not a fan of zucchini, and he even thought it tasted good.

I found inspiration from the Zucchini Bread recipe on All Recipes, but similar to my banana bread, I wanted to reduce the sugar. I think I’ve done that for this particular recipe.

Whole Wheat Zucchini Bread Ingredients

• 3/4 cup Almond Oil
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 whole eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup raw honey
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup raw wheat germ
• 1 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1.5 to 2 cups grated zucchini (peeled)
• 1.8 oz dark chocolate
• 2 oz walnuts (approx 1/2 cup)
• 1 oz raw hulled sunflower seeds (approx 1/4 cup)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Grease or lie parchment paper in a loaf pan
3. In a large bowl, whisk together wet ingredients
4. In another bowl, mix dry ingredients
5. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.
6. In a 3rd bowl, combine grated zucchini, chopped chocolate, sunflower seeds, and nuts
7. Fold into the large bowl with wet & dry ingredients.
8. Spoon batter into baking dish
9. Sprinkle top with 1 tsp granulated sugar (optional)
10. Bake for approx 40-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. I covered with aluminum foil after about 30 minutes so the top wouldn’t over bake.

My Extra Notes

• For this loaf, I used a half bar of Green & Black organic 70% dark chocolate
• I used my food processor to chop the dark chocolate and the nuts. I found it’s best to process the dark chocolate first, then the nuts, or the nuts will turn into powder. I did not process the sunflower seeds, I left them whole.
  
• I grated one large zucchini in the food processor but it was way too much. I used about 2 cups, but after seeing the finished product, I could have definitely added more. Next time, I might even try doubling the recipe to make a loaf plus some muffins. I think a medium zucchini would be fine for one recipe, but it wouldn’t hurt to add extra grated zucchini.
  
• I love using King Arthur White Whole Wheat flour in place of traditional whole wheat flour.
• I find it’s so much easier to use parchment paper as opposed to extra oil or grease when baking in glass Pyrex.

Nutritional Data

Total Loaf weighs approx 33 oz
Per 2 oz serving:

Calories: 214
Carbs: 22g
Fat: 12g
Protein: 4g
Cholesterol: 38mg
Sodium: 160mg
Sugar: 10g
Fiber: 2g