Hi, this is Kathy again. Lindsey will be back tomorrow.

I thought I’d take a moment and post this recipe I used over the weekend for an in-house bake sale we’re having today at the paper.

The bake sale is a fundraiser for the annual Roanoke Times Good Neighbors Fund, which supports the Roanoke Area Ministries’ Emergency Financial Assistance Program. You can read our story profiling people who’ve been helped by the fund or contribute to it here.

I chose to make Chocolate Zucchini Muffins out of the “The Only Bake Sale Cookbook You’ll Ever Need.” It wasn’t hard, but I did turn the batter into 24 cupcakes instead of 12 large (they would’ve been REALLY large) muffins. The muffins are light, with a nice cinnamony zing. But it’s not super-chocolatey, as a warning to those chocoholics out there.

I’m also not one to follow a recipe to the T, which has burned me in the past but I just can’t seem to do everything a recipe says to do (or just to do). So you’ll see my comments in here, but know that the cupcakes still turned out OK.

Hope you enjoy!

Chocolate Zucchini Muffins

Makes 12 large muffins (or 24 cupcakes)

2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted (I skipped the sifting)
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, lightly beaten (I think I didn’t see the beaten part, so I added them unbeaten)
2 cups shredded zucchini (about 4 medium zucchini — my 3 medium zucchini turned out 4 cups of shredded, so you might want to stick with 2 or 3)
1/2 cup milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I prefer the mini version)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease the cups of a 12-cup muffin pan or line with baking cups. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a bowl.

2. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating lightly after each addition.

3. Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture alternately with the zucchini and milk, making two additions of each. Fold in the chocolate chips. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the tops spring back when lightly touched. Remove from the pans immediately and cook on a wire rack (I don’t have a wire rack, so they just cooled on a countertop).