Zucchini Bread Cookies

Summer is the height of zucchini season! All over Insta, I'm seeing pictures of giant overgrown backyard zukes, breads, muffins, roasted, sauteed, zoodles, etc etc!

Today I was craving the flavors of zucchini bread without the bready or muffiny bulk. Plus, let's face it, I am first and foremost a cookie girl. Line up all the desserts...I choose cookies! So, I thought I'd try my hand at turning classic zucchini bread into grain-free, bite-sized gems of cookieness! These soft cookies are also packed with cinnamon, coconut, chocolate chunks, and bits of hazelnut goodness.

Let's get to the recipe, shall we?

Zucchini "Bread" Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 egg

• 1/2 cup coconut sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 6 Tbsp grass-fed butter, melted (or ghee or coconut oil)

• 3/4 cup finely shredded zucchini (skin-on, moisture squeezed out)

• 1-1/2 cups almond flour

• 3/4 tsp baking soda

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/3 cup unsweetened, shredded coconut

• 1/3 dairy free chocolate chip or chunk of choice (I used a mix of chips and chopped up Honey Mama's "Dutch" Bar)

• 1/4 chopped hazelnuts (or nut of choice)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and prep a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Add the egg, coconut sugar and vanilla to the bowl of a stand mixer (a hand mixer would also work). Mix the ingredients on medium/high until sugar is dissolved and it's relatively light and fluffy. Should take a couple minutes.

Add the melted butter and zucchini and mix again until thoroughly combined. **A note about the zucchini...after finely grating, make sure to thoroughly squeeze out the excess moisture. You can do this with a towel (paper or cloth), cheese cloth, or my favorite method, using a nut milk bag like this one.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined. 

Finally, fold in the coconut, chocolate and hazelnuts.

Using a spoon or cookie scoop, drop rounds of dough onto the baking sheet. (Depending on the size of your scoop, the dough should make 12-18 cookies. You can use two baking sheets if needed.)

Bake at 325 for 15-18 minutes (or until the tops are golden brown). These are soft cookies, so you are more likely to underbake than overbake.

When the cookies are done, let them cool on the pan for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling. 

Enjoy!

**I recommend storing these cookies uncovered on the counter. You can cover them, but they will become even more cakey over time. If they stick around more than a few days, you can refrigerate them.