Mexican Hot Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease two 9×5-inch or six 5×3-inch loaf pans. Set pans aside.

Place the shredded zucchini in a mesh strainer in the sink to drain while assembling the other ingredients.

In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla extract and chocolate extract. Add the melted chocolate and stir the mixture until well blended.

With your hands (or use a potato ricer—it works great for this), squeeze the excess moisture out of the shredded zucchini, then stir it into the egg mixture.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, devil’s food (or chocolate) pudding mix, salt, baking soda, baking powder, espresso powder, cayenne pepper, cocoa powder, chili powder and cinnamon. Add the flour mixture into the egg/zucchini mixture, stirring just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Divide the batter between the prepared pans. Sprinkle the top of each loaf liberally with raw sugar. Bake at 350 F for 45-60 minutes for the large loaves and 35-40 minutes for the smaller loaves, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the breads cool in the pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Remove the loaves from the pans to wire racks and cool completely. Makes 2 large or 6 small loaves.