A few years ago, my mom discovered that pureed pumpkin is an excellent substitute for butter/margarine in brownies (and as it turns out, some other baked goods). Ever since, we've made brownies with pumpkin exclusively. We ran out of freezer pumpkin, but we have loads of zucchini and squash from the garden, so the other day I did an experiment (GASP). My mom also used to make zucchini chocolate cake, and I thought - why not zucchini brownies? I ended up using crookneck squash, but I expect it is texturally equivalent to zucchini.
Brownies with squash/zucchini/pumpkin/other
or, "What I did this time"
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups white sugar (less if using sweetened applesauce/peaches etc)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup pureed (lightly cooked) squash
1/4 cup vegetable oil (optional)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp instant coffee powder
Slice squash thinly. Steam or cook with some water in microwave until it begins to get clear and soft. Cool and puree in food processer.
Mix dry ingredients, sifting cocoa and instant coffee if required. Stir in oil and squash, beat in eggs and vanilla. Preheat oven at 350 F. Bake in lightly greased or parchment papered 9" square pan. These took a long time to bake, and I probably checked them too frequently, but I think it ended up being about 40 minutes.
The brownies turned out really moist and chewy. Mmmmm.
In the past I've also used pureed canned peaches, and I expect apple sauce works as well. Sometimes I leave out the extra oil, and it also seems to work.
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