Soft and fudgy chocolate zucchini cookies made with whole grain flour and which also happen to be dairy-free!
I was excited about baking with zucchini after I made this chocolate zucchini cake last year so I bought a few bags of zucchini, which was perhaps overkill for the one recipe I wanted to make. So I’ve been baking up zucchini everything.
First we have these cookies, which are super soft and chocolately and get most of their sweetness from the chocolate chips. I’m kind of surprised by the dough’s lack of sweetness. There’s quite a bit of coconut sugar in there already but I wouldn’t reduce it. Not if you want these to be sweet, which is how I usually like my cookies. ;) And that would also make them more cakey and less fudgy.
I have to admit that I’m kind of nervous posting recipes with zucchini. The water content seems to vary from zucchini to zucchini so I’m a little scared that the recipes will come out differently for other people. I used a medium Microplane grater and would recommend not using a fine or coarse grater because your cookies might come out differently.
You only bake these cookies for 6 minutes, but I did a lot of testing. In batch after batch, 7 minutes was already too long. These should be very soft and kind of fudgy but if you over bake them they will be cakey. And cakey cookies ain’t cool. When you check them, be sure not to confuse melted chocolate chips with uncooked dough. You don’t want the dough to be raw, but it goes from just perfect to overcooked quickly so don’t leave them in much longer than 6 minutes if you’re worried about the cookies being underdone.
It’s a simple recipe but you do have to chill the dough. If you don’t, the dough will be more like a batter. After chilling it, the dough should be scoopable, like regular cookie dough. If you’re in a hurry, flatten it into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and stick it in the freezer.
And most importantly, these chocolate zucchini cookies do not taste like zucchini! I don’t like zucchini so I wouldn’t be eating these cookies if they did. ;)
Chocolate Zucchini Cookies (100% whole grain, dairy-free)
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 36 medium cookies
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup (175 grams) coconut oil, melted (refined for no coconut taste)
- 1/3 cup (3/4 dl) unsweetened apple sauce
- 3/4 cup (1 3/4 dl) coconut sugar / unrefined sugar / granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup (2 1/3 dl) zucchini
- 3/4 cup (90 grams) whole wheat or whole spelt flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 3/4 cup (146 grams) quick oats1
- 1/4 cup(22 grams) oat flour2
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup (180 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips (for dairy-free, use Enjoy Life chocolate chips)
Directions
- In a large bowl, combine all the wet ingredients (coconut oil through zucchini) together and set this aside.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the flour through salt.
- Add the dry mix to the wet and stir, just until combined.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours. It should be scoopable and no longer runny.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (176 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or piece of parchment paper.
- Form the dough into 1 1/2" balls and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 6 minutes. They will still be very soft when you remove them from the often but they will continue to cook.
- Immediately remove the cookies from the cookie sheet and let cool on a wire rack.
- Store covered in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- To make your own quick oats, pulse traditional rolled oats in a coffee grinder (once) or food processor (3-5 times) until the oats resemble quick oats.
- To make your own oat flour, grind quick oats in the same way until they resemble flour. In my coffee grinder, this takes only 2-3 seconds but it'll take a little longer in a food processor.
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52 comments on “Chocolate Zucchini Cookies (100% whole grain, dairy-free)” — Add one!
Do you think you could replace the whole wheat/spelt flour with more oats/oat flour?
Unfortunately not. The lack of gluten would most likely cause the cookies to fall apart. When I change a cookie recipe like this to be gluten-free, I normally add a binder like almond butter but I have no idea how much you’d need here. You could also try xanthan gum, although I have no experience with that. Sorry about that!
I’m very glad I made these. They’re very yummy. You’re right about the 6min rule, though I liked my 9min-cookies a lot as well (I kept taking out one row after each minute of baking and putting the rest back into the oven, so I can see the difference). I’m not sure what ‘cakey’ means, does that mean drier, crumblier? Like ‘fudgy’ but without the moist and sticky quality? (I wonder if the zucchini helps make them fudgy).
I’m a bit paranoid about undercooked eggs (getting sick from that just once will make people like that), so I wonder if you think they’d be ok with flax or chia eggs? Or maybe you have a good argument that 6 mins is enough for the egg to be done?
I only had the fine and coarse grater sides, so I used the fine side. They turned out looking a bit ‘hairy’ as a result :) (cause of the strands sticking out. I wonder if there’s a solution for that.)
Also, my dough wasn’t runny at all, what’s up with that? In fact, after refrigerating it became hard as a rock. Did I do something wrong? (I did sub 70% butter for the oil, could that have something to do with it? But it shouldn’t, since coconut oil gets much more ‘rocky’ in the fridge). And they didn’t spread one mm in the oven, there was no need for too much space between them.
Oh, and btw, I think you may have forgotten to add “a pinch of salt” to the recipe. I’ve learned that that’s a must in all deserts, to accentuate the flavors. I’m just telling you in case you may have forgotten to write that, of course it’s up to you if you put that into your sweets and recipes.
I’m happy you enjoyed them! By cakey, I mean drier and crumblier, and more cake-like as opposed to fudge-like. I don’t have any experience with flax or chia eggs but I don’t see why they wouldn’t work in these cookies. :) I remember this dough being extremely runny, but if yours wasn’t, there’s no need to refrigerate it! Perhaps our zucchinis had a different amount of moisture in them. But even if they did, I don’t think it would have caused such a huge difference. There must have been another difference in ingredients! And haha. No, I didn’t forgot to add a pinch of salt. At the time, I wasn’t aware that everything needs a little bit of salt. I only learned that in the past year or so. I’ll add it to the recipe! Thanks for pointing it out for thanks for taking the time to leave your feedback. :)
Hi! Do you have to use whole wheat or spelt flour, or can you just use regular old white flour for your recipes?
Hi there! It depends on the recipe. Like for the yeast containing recipes, you can’t use whole wheat and all-purpose interchangeably because you need a little more liquid for whole wheat. They say the same is true for all baked goods, but I’ve never needed to adjust liquid for things like brownies, cookies, quick breads, etc. And I haven’t tried these cookies with all-purpose but I’m pretty sure they’d work. The same goes for most of my recipes, but since I haven’t tried it, I can’t guarantee it. I hope you’ll enjoy the cookies if you try them out! :)
UMMMMMM…… YUMM ! By the way the way, the dough is scrumptious too. Don`t yell at me ! I know it has a raw egg. Mine was a fresh yard egg, out of my own yard. Love recipes like this !!!
Haha. I would never yell at you for eating raw cookie dough. What’s the fun of making cookies or brownies if you don’t get to eat the dough / batter? ;) Thanks so much for the feedback! I’m happy you enjoyed them. :)
These are the best cookies ever!
I’m so happy that you like them! Thanks for the rating. :)
Wonder if this would work with frozen shredded zucchini that I squeezed all the liquid out of??
I don’t have any experience with frozen shredded zucchini but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! But like you said, squeezing the liquid out sounds like a good idea. But perhaps not ALL of it. Just so that it’s like regular fresh shredded zucchini. Let me know how it works out! :)
These look absolutely incredible! Love that first picture! A friend of mine tried zucchini cookies and they were so bland and flavorless and cakey. Yuck! I’m willing to bet that yours, chocolate + underbaked = perfection!
Nooooo! ;) They’re not underbaked. They’re baked just to the point that they’re done… any more and they’ll be cakey!
These sound delicious. I have made zucchini bread before so will have to try these.
I hope you’ll liked them, Jackie! :)
Finally! a way to get rid of all this zucchini!
Haha. It’s definitely better than eating them raw or cooked, isn’t it?
I have had zucchini bread but never in a cookie. Love this twist and that you added chocolate. These are a must try!!!
It is admittedly… a bit weird. ;)
Erin these cookies are great, I totally want to take a bite of that melting chocolate! Love the se of zucchini.
Thanks, Suzanne! And yeah. What’s better than melty chocolate? Yum.
Oh man, those gooey chocolate chips are calling my name! I haven’t done nearly enough baking with zucchini this summer – I need to get on it before it’s too late!
At least zucchini are a year round thing. :) They just have their peak in summer, right? Or am I making that up?
These look great! I’ll definitely have to try them!
I hope you do! So gooey and yummy. :)
These cookies look seriously delicious!!!
Thanks, girl! :)
I love the way cookies cook so fast. It’s like instant gratification when they are done baking. But I do have to wonder what zucchini does for things in baked goods. Does it do anything special…. or is it just a sneaky way of including veggies in kids treats?
In these, I’d say that they’re just something sneaky. In my next zucchini post, they add a ton of moisture. So much you don’t need any oil / fat!
Wow! These look amazing and I would absolutely never guess that there is zucchini inside!
Thanks a bunch, Erin! :)
Yum – I love how fudgy these are! I have a zucchini I just picked from the garden, not to decide what to do with it! I was thinking brownies, but now I am not sure!
Nooo! Do brownies. Do my brownies that I’m posting on Monday. Way more gooey than these! ;)
What a fun way to use zucchini! Lovely cookies :)
Thanks, Katrina! :)
Oh my heavens Erin!!! These look amazing! To die for – heavenly – outrageous! I haven’t baked with any zucchini yet this summer. Gasp!! I have to change that asap, I know. I can’t believe how fudgy and chocolatey these are. :) Must make!
Thanks, Sally! And I can’t wait to see what you come up with zucchini. I know it’ll be killer, whatever it is!
Another healthy but full of chocolate recipe :D Love it Erin! And will try it soon for sure.
Hahaha. You know what’s funny? I had a survey about what people want to see, like whole-grain, gluten-free, etc. and one person wrote down “chocolate.” Heh. I think they came to the right place! :D
I need these in my life!!!!! I love baking with zucchini and chocolate is always the answer.
Yes, you do! We can do a switch, okay? You get some of these and I get some of that lemon pesto pasta? How about it? ;)
What a fun and delicious looking recipe, those melting cc are very enticing!
I have the hair dryer to thank for that. ;)
Lawdy, lawdy! These look so gooey and delicious.
Thanks, Jennie! :)
My mouth just dropped. These look amazing Erin! Love zucchini baked goods. :)
Ooh, hey Caroline! So nice to see you over here. :)
I’ve been hoarding zucchinis and making zucchini muffins left and right — this looks like a good second use for them! yum.
Haha. Hoarding them? Stop that! They’re everywhere! :D And yes, this would indeed be a good second use!
I love tucking zucchini into chocolate treats – these cookies look so good!
Now the next challenge is using them in non-chocoately treats! I don’t know if I’m up for it.