The Trap

Cruise the aisles of the grocery store and you can find a whole lot of seemingly healthy foods.  Well, maybe not healthy, but "less offensive" foods- like sugar free cookies, or baked potato chips.

But are those things really any better?

Nope.

And neither are these cookies.  Let's be real- adding zucchini does not make them something you should be eating morning, noon, and night, but you might as well add a li'l extra nutrition to your sugar & fat.

Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 stick butter, softened 

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour 

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 smallish zucchini, finely grated (you want it to measure approximately 1 cup of grated zucchini)
2 cups dark chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg and vanilla.  

3. In a medium bowl, combine flour with soda and salt.  Gradually stir in to the butter mixture.

4. Soak up excess moisture from grated zucchini with a few paper towels.  Stir in zucchini to dough.  Lastly stir in chocolate chips.

5. Plop on a cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.  They stay puffy and don't really spread as much as a regular cookie.  

The recipe should make about a dozen and a half cookies.  I got a little overzealous with the plopping and ended up with some ginormous cookies.  Fortunately I am manly enough to handle a ginormous cookie.

Nice and puffy when baked.

You can't see or taste the zucchini.  Tasty as these are, I think I'd better find healthier ways to use up the never-ending zucchini from my garden.