Grandma Loa's Zucchini Bread

1 cup oil
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
2 cups shredded zucchini
1 oz square unsweetened chocolate, melted & cooled
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips + 1 Tbsp flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour 2 8x4, or 4 small bread pans. Mix oil, sugar and eggs together well.  Add zucchini, vanilla and melted chocolate.  Sift together dry ingredients, add to wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Toss chocolate chips with 1 Tbsp flour, then mix into batter. Pour evenly into pans & bake for 1 hour for large pans or 30 minutes for small pans.  Cool 15 minutes in pans, then turn onto cooling rack to cool completely.

Well-Rested Cookies

In my search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie (or any kind of cookie, really) I overheard a rumor that allowing cookie dough to rest in the refrigerator for 24-36 hours is key to perfect appearance, taste and texture. I have noticed that when I make a large batch & bake in installments, the latter cookies do look and taste better so I did some research online. I found this interesting article from the NYTimes,
and contrasted it with another article I found in Cook's Illustrated (my FAVORITE magazine) and both agreed that cookie dough does, in fact, benefit from a resting period. While I don't always have the luxury of time to take advantage of this little known fact, I am planning ahead this weekend so I can experiment and see the results for myself. I have mixed my favorite (all-butter) Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe & put it in the fridge to wait! I'll let you know how it turns out!

Big And Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
3 1/3 Cups all purpose flour
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
16 T (2 sticks) butter, melted & cooled
1 1/4 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 T vanilla extract
1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips (you can substitute white, milk or bittersweet chocolate chips or peanut butter chips. You can also stir in 1/2 c chopped nuts, raisins or shredded coconut into the dough with the chips.)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl and set aside. Beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed until combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the bowl and beaters as needed. Reduce speed to low and slowly mix in the flour mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Mix in the chocolate chips until incorporated.
(At this point, I covered the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for 24-36 hours.)
Working with 1/4 c of dough at a time, roll into balls and lay on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets, spaced about 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake until the edges are golden but the centers are still soft and puffy, 17 to 20 minutes, rotating and switching the baking sheets halfway through baking. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.
Recipe Courtesy of America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook