Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes - Rebar

One cookbook that I use over and over again is Rebar. If you are not familiar with Rebar it is a nice little restaurant in Victoria on Vancouver Island. I had the chance to eat there and tried their Three Sisters Burrito filled with roasted squash, pinto beans, corn and served with a mesa red sauce. It was delicious. The staff is very friendly and the place fills up fast during the week-end so expect a lineup.





Yesterday driving around my new place I found a farmer stand not too far from home. I spent $20 and came back with a box full of fresh vegetables. I had zucchinis, the best I had since a long time and decided to use them in a soup and in cupcakes. To make the cupcakes I used a really good cocoa from Epicure Selections. It's important in order to achieve a dark, deep flavor of chocolate in the cupcakes. For the 'chocolate chips I used the Special Dark from Hershey's. There is buttermilk in the batter but no need to run to the grocery, you can use plain yogurt. I had Greek yogurt on hand and it was perfect. The recipe says that it will yield 20 cupcakes but I like to have a nice round top on my cupcakes so I ended up with 17. Rebar served them with a cream cheese frosting but they are really good on their own.



It is a rainy day today in Ottawa and it was hard to take great pictures. I still did and I am not satisfied with the results but I wanted to make sure that you have a picture of the cupcakes to look at.





Chocolate Zucchini Cupcake Recipe



1 1/2 cups (360 mL) brown sugar

1/4 cup (60 mL) melted butter

3/4 cup (180 mL) vegetable oil

3 eggs

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla

1/2 cup (120 mL) buttermilk

2 cups (480 mL) grated zucchini

1 cup (240 mL) chocolate chips

2 cups (480 mL) unbleached flour

1 cup (240 mL) cocoa, sifted

1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) salt

2 tsp (10 mL) baking soda

1 tsp (5 mL) allspice

1 1/2 tsp (7.5 mL) cinnamon



Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease large muffin pans and line with muffin cups.



In a medium bowl mix together the sugar, butter and oil. Beat in eggs, one at a time until well Incorporated. Stir in vanilla, buttermilk, zucchini and chocolate chips.



In a separate bowl mix together all of the dry ingredients. Add the liquid ingredients and mix until well combined. Spoon batter into large muffin pans. Bake in the center of the oven for about 35 minutes. Cool on a wire rack, while preparing the icing (hs note: I made these without the icing, also - don't overcook them or you will lose all the moist goodness - you want them to look almost done in the oven - they will continue to cook for a few minutes after you pull them from the oven from the residual heat).



Yields 9 large cupcakes or 20 standard cupcakes.



from Rebar: Modern Food Cookbook by Audrey Alsterburg & Wanda Urbanowicz