Chocolate Zucchini Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup butter flavored shortening
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup grated zucchini


DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.

In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening, white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually stir into the creamed mixture. Fold in the grated zucchini. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

We have been eating a lot of zucchini from our garden lately. I got this recipe from All Recipes. The cookies are very cake-like and good. It is supposed to make 48 cookies. However, my batch only made 36 (probably because I made them too big). I should have read the reviews and not have bought the butter flavored Crisco shortening and just used butter instead. I also should have baked the cookies longer because they were bigger. The ones that I did leave in longer turned out puffier and looked nicer. However, the boys didn’t complain and gobbled them up quickly.

I originally posted this recipe in July, 2008, on my old blog.