Zucchini brownies

Ok so brownies are a Big deal. If you can make good brownies you pretty much have a permanent place in my heart. And no joke I have witnessed guys go from polite to putty in a girls hands because she makes good brownies. 

And the thing is brownies should be so simple to make but apparently not. I have had so many brownie disasters, undercooked, over cooked, brownies that literally melt in your mouth because even the the top is crispy the insides are goo (not as nice as they sound), brownies that refuse to develop that crispy top and brownies that taste like crap. And that was before I cut out dairy, and then gluten. My coconut flour brownies sucked, but then I don't like coconut flour so it may have been more to do with that? 

So what better to do than to make brownies that are vegan and gluten free and full of vegetables? It makes sense.

Im pleased to report that these were not disaster brownies. They're chocolatey and gooey and have that crispy top that I had resigned myself to having to forego if I was going to make vegetable brownies.

They also don't taste like zucchini at all. 

Which is great because while I love zucchini I don't want zucchini dessert.

Ingredients

1/2 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups organic brown cane sugar (or other sugar of your choice I'm just opting to be pretentious at the moment)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

2 cups gluten free flour

1/2 cup organic cocoa 

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups fresh zucchini (shredded. You guys my food processor grates/shreds stuff at the speed of light I'm so amazed)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

1.Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. 

2.Grease or line your parking pan (I uses a 10x10 pan but would recommend an 8x8 pan for thicker brownies. I'm just lazy and had just used my 8x8 pan for a batch of blondies and couldn't be bothered to wash it up),

3.In a large bowl mix together oil, sugar and 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract until well blended. In another bowl combine the flour, ½ cup cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. A little at a time stir into the sugar mixture. At this point the mixture will be really crumbly and you'll be tempted to add in as many wet brownie ingredients as you can remember from the area of your brain reserved to brownie baking. Ignore your panic, it's supposed to be like this. 

3.5 I should also mention that because I was so excited about my new food processor that I actually skipped the process of wet and dry ingredients and just threw it all in and blitzed it. I'm happy to report that this works. Hoorah for lazy brownies!

4.Fold in the zucchini (and walnuts if you used them) suddenly your dry, crumbly brownie mix will look like molten chocolate. Glorious. 

5. Spread the mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the brownies spring back when gently touched. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool (or not because hot brownies are bloody amazing