We are right in the height of zucchini season and I have pounds of zucchini sitting on my kitchen counter. My farmer friend, Gray, put in quite a few plants and they have been prolific. Inspired by an old, non-raw recipe for zucchini chocolate cake, I put together a raw food recipe for these little zucchini cacao bites. You, and your family will love them. They have a wonderful chocolate flavor and a moist, chewy texture. Feel free to add nuts!
Zucchini Cacao Cookies
- 3 cups grated zucchini
- 2 cups oat flour (raw)*
- 3/4 cup cacao
- 2 apples, cored and quartered
- 1/2 cup agave nectar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1/4 cup olive oil (cold pressed)
1. Grate zucchini and set aside.
2. Mix together cacao and oat flour. Set aside.
3. Place apples in food processor with agave, water and olive oil. Process until smooth.
4. Stir together flour mixture and apple mixture.
5. Add to grated zucchini and stir until well combined.
6. Drop by spoonful onto non-stick dehydrator sheets. Flatten slightly. Dehydrate at 145 for 1/2 hour then reduce heat to 115 and dry for 4 hours. Remove from non-stick sheets and continue to dry until done. (aprox 4 more hours)
Makes 3 dozen.
*You can order raw flour here: Sunrise Flour Mills
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
YUM!
Now THAT’s one way to get your veggies——-with chocolate!! Looks divine
Sounds good but am leery of agave as now there are reports it’s not good for diabetics and my husband is diabetic. Anybody have any suggestions or ideas?
Cindy, check out http://www.xagave.com/ There is a lot of information there that you might find interesting.
A brilliant way to use up the oodles of zukes that are taking over gardens everywhere! Looks delicious
Susan
Thank you so much for the info. Very interesting. I think I will order some and see how Jim’s blood sugars level read after using it.
Love your site and appreciate your sharing. Because of glutten allergy have found that I have to use even glutten free oats. Have you had any experience or have any suggestions for another flour? The flour serves as a thickening agent, correct? What do you think about using ground chia seeds? Again, thanks for being there.
You could try almond flour. I like to use oat flour (also because I know that people can get it gluten free) to switch things up a little, Oats are nutritious and I like to get away from only using nuts once in a while, especially with some of the “baked” goods.
Cindy…you can order it in the Rawmazing store…
Can’t wait to make these for the children! Thanks so much.
Peace and Raw Health,
Elizabeth
These sound great!!! I will try them. I am new to eating raw, so I have a question, are the cookies still considered raw if the temperture is above 115? I’ve heard 115 so often that I was surprised to see the 145 temp in this recipe. Thanks for all these great food ideas… Mary Ann
Mary Ann: Yes…they are still raw. it is the FOOD temperature, not the AIR temperature that we are concerned about. Starting the temp higher cuts down your dehydration time, removes the water faster and helps prevent fermentation. The food itself, never gets above the 115 degrees when it is in the wet state. It is later in the drying process that we need to worry about the air process, that is why we turn it down. If you think you won’t remember to turn down the heat, then just dehydrate at 115 for the entire time. I always set a timer.
Oh, just added to my list of “need to try recipes”
Thank you for sharing.
Frannie
These look great! I just started eating Raw in April. Haven’t bought a dehydrator yet – but I think I need to do it soon – just to make these cookies! Any advice on getting one. Leaning toward the Excalibur has it’s a full sheet – no hole in the center. Was thinking of doing the 4 tray one – but saw mixed reviews. Anyone have any advice? Thanks!
I bet Carob would be great. Have made traditional ones, non raw in past, similar and delish with carob.
What brands of dehydrator and food processor do you use?
I use the TSM dehydrator (see right sidebar) and the kitchen aid food processor.
Those look really good! Zucchini is so versatile, I love it.
I am ready to try this one, and I am gathering the ingredients, can I make oat flour by processing regular organic oatmeal until it is flour?
Mary Ann: You can but you need to buy flaked oats not steel cut or rolled if you still want raw. You can also process oat groats in a high speed blender. I get my raw oat flour from Sunrise Flour Mills. There is an button in the sidebar for them.
Wow, what a perfectly delicious way to use up all that extra zucchini! I think even my picky toddler would eat these! Great recipe.
Susan, thanks for explaining that the air temperature and the food temperature are not the same when dehydrating food. I think another way to understand it is to think about regular air temperature: I do Bikram Yoga, and the studio is heated to 105+ degrees, and even though I’m in the room my body temperature doesn’t go above 98.7. In fact, an instructor at my studio continued to practice throughout her pregnancy with her doctor’s blessing, so long as she regularly took her body temp throughout her practice and it never went above 99.5 despite the thermostat reading of 107.
Wow! These look amazing! I am a huge fan of hiding veggies in treats
I don’t have a dehydrator but may have a go in my oven.
Ps. I’ve been following you for awhile now and it’s about time I tell you- I LOVE your blog! Beautiful and delicious!
Thank you!
Thanks for the recipe! I just made these yesterday but instead of oats I used some soaked quinoa I had left over. They turned out a bit chewy but very nice. I also added some cinnamon, nutmeg and walnuts to the recipe. Delicious! My dehydration time was close to double what was listed in the recipe. Perhaps this is because I like the texture to be a little less soft, or maybe because my apples were huge and juicy. Thank you again for your website!
Avis, it would make sense that your dehydration time would increase since you are doing a major substitution. Soaked grain for an oat flour. It also makes sense that they would be more chewy.
Looks good! (Of course, this will only use one of my giant zucchinis, leaving me with…oh, about 12 more to deal with today.)
I don’t have a dehydrator but i do have a friend with one who is doing a 30 day raw challenge starting next week. I’m going to send this her way in the guise of helping her when really it’s ME who wants to eat these!!!
Cacao–meaning raw cacao chips–or powder?
Cacao Powder
Do you peel the zucchini or just grate it with the skin on?
I leave the skin on but you can do it either way.
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