Put a Little Vegetable in Your Dessert

Those melons we had in August were sweet and delicious, and we’ve gotten plenty of sweet corn in our shares this season, too, but sometimes it’s challenging to use everything we get at pickup, and how great would it be if some of the bounty could be made into dessert?

We’ve included some sweet treats in past blogs—for example, Zapple Cobbler, Zucchini Blondies, and Zucchini Pancakes. Hmm, there is a theme to these; zucchini turns up in sweet treats more than, say, cucumbers or turnips.

So . . . here’s another simple way to use up a little zucchini, though this recipe is the cookie equivalent of Stone Soup—it’s pretty much a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe with zucchini added. However, the zucchini keeps the cookies moist for days, and the extra flour added along with the zucchini means it makes a few dozen more cookies than a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe. Can’t beat that.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Cookies

1 cup butter flavored Crisco*
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups grated zucchini (about 1 large or 2 small zucchinis)
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 oz.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray cookie sheets with cooking spray (or line with parchment paper.) Sift the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and zucchini alternately in thirds, stirring well after each addition.

Stir in the chocolate chips and then drop teaspoonsful of the dough on the greased cookie sheets, spacing well (about 2 inches between each mound of dough). Bake 14 to 18 minutes, or until golden brown (be careful not to overbake). Makes a lot—about 7 to 9 dozen cookies, depending on the size.

*You can use softened butter or margarine, but Crisco makes tastier cookies and recent research says that a little lard is good for you. Now, that’s my kind of research.