Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

I am typing this while watching the Olympics.  Swimming is still in full swing.  I wasn't sure I would be able to watch the Olympics from home, but my roommate worked out a way to view it from our apartment.  She's a miracle worker.

The Olympics provide hours and hours of entertainment.  I always know what I'll be doing in the evening.  I won't know what to do with all my free time when the Olympics are over.

Zucchini is in full swing right now.  It fills farmers' markets and food blogs.  My father has a garden.  He always has a bumper crop of zucchini and tomatoes.  My parents eat zucchini and tomatoes for almost every meal during the summer.

One of my favorite breakfasts is zucchini and eggs, tomatoes, and toast.  My dad probably ate that for breakfast today.  It is tasty and much healthier than these muffins.  These muffins are nice and chocolatey though.  They provide an excuse to eat dessert for breakfast.

I found this zucchini chocolate muffin recipe on allrecipes.com.   That is one of my favorite recipe sources.  I like reading the reviews and seeing the adjustments people made to the recipe.  The only changes I made were adding chocolate chips, reducing the amount of sugar, and adding more cinnamon.  I'm glad I used less sugar.  It was sweet as cake.

The ingredients are 3 eggs, 1 1/2 cups white sugar, 1 cup vegetable oil, 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 2 cups grated zucchini, 3 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom, and 1 cup chocolate chips.

I beat the eggs.  I added the sugar and beat again.

I beat in the vegetable oil.

I mixed in the cocoa powder, vanilla, and grated zucchini.

I added the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

I added the cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and cardamom.  

I stirred all the ingredients together thoroughly and then mixed in the chocolate chips.

I scooped the batter into a muffin pan lined with paper liners.  I used large muffin liners because I like big muffins.  I filled the lines over three fourths of the way full.

I baked the muffins for 30 to 35 minutes at 350 degrees.  If I had used regular sized muffin liners, I would have baked the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes.

I let them cool a little in the pan before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

These were delicious.  The chocolate was dark and rich.

The spices were aromatic, warm, and inviting.  They were a bit autumnal.  

The textures of the muffins were tender and moist.

The chocolate chips were creamy and smooth.

These were scrumptious and decadent.

They made a toothsome and sweet breakfast treat.