Chocolate Mini Loaves

Jack's garden operation grows more ambitious every year. The greenhouse, the market sales, the Farm Fund jar that now holds over three hundred dollars. He's 13 and he farms the way some kids play video games — obsessively, joyfully, with the deep understanding that this is not a hobby but a vocation wearing a hobby's clothes.

Thursday was tater tot hotdish, because Thursday is always tater tot hotdish and the schedule doesn't change for anything — not pandemics, not loss, not the passage of years. The tater tots go in at 375 and come out golden and the family eats them and the eating is the Thursday and the Thursday is the structure and the structure holds. But I also made pork tenderloin sandwiches earlier this week, because the kitchen doesn't only look backward. The kitchen grows.

Canning approaches. August. The ritual that marks the turn from growing to preserving, from garden to pantry, from the sun to the jar. The pressure canner — Marlene's mother's, weight jiggly, gauge lying, handle replaced twice — waiting in the closet like a veteran reporting for duty. The heirloom equipment for the heirloom work.

With canning season bearing down and the pressure canner already calling from the closet, I wanted to make something that had nothing to do with preserving — something just for the pleasure of it. The kitchen grows, I said, and I meant it. These chocolate mini loaves are exactly that kind of baking: small, generous, made to be wrapped in foil and handed off to whoever helped you haul the zucchini in from the garden. Jack got the first one.

Prep Time: 15 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 6 mini loaves

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat and prep. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease six mini loaf pans (approximately 5½ x 3 inches) or spray with nonstick baking spray. Set aside on a rimmed baking sheet.
Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until evenly combined.
Cream butter and sugar. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter and granulated sugar together with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2–3 minutes.
Add eggs and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract.
Combine wet and dry. Reduce mixer speed to low. Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the sour cream in two additions, beginning and ending with the dry mixture. Mix just until combined — do not overmix.
Fold in chocolate chips. Gently fold the chocolate chips into the batter with a rubber spatula.
Fill and bake. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared mini loaf pans, filling each about 2/3 full. Bake for 28–32 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
Cool and serve. Allow the loaves to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Wrap individually in foil for gifting or storing.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chocolate Mini Loaves — When the Kitchen Grows Beyond the Garden