Is it high standards or is she just crazy

Plus, zucchini week!

Whenever I make a recipe I really want it to have a purpose. That sounds a little too reverent and like I’m overthinking it, but if I’m putting blueberry in your cookies, I want there to be a reason that the blueberries are there. If I’m asking you to buy camembert, you better believe I want you to taste the camembert. And if a recipe is vegan, it’s because I want everyone to be able to have a version. I know it seems obvious that all recipe developers should think this way, but on social where it’s rewarded to churn things out (I used to fall into that trap…a lot!), there are some not-so-purposeful recipes floating around, you know?

And I remember a few weeks ago in San Francisco I was scrolling with my friends at brunch (literally minutes before we found out Biden dropped out of the race…but I digress), and I saw that a food journalist who had interviewed me didn’t follow me. It’s a small thing, but my face kind of fell when I realized a lot of old-guard food media who I was friendly with didn’t follow my account. A big insecurity I’ve always had is being taken “seriously.” I think just by the nature of the fact that social-media-first food bloggers are self-made makes it seem like our recipes are less tested, less meaningful, and less purposeful in your kitchen. It’s something I’m trying to combat, one (good!) recipe at a time.

So where is this going? To these zucchini cookies. Which have really given me a TIME.

I’ve been working on these zucchini cookies for a few weeks now. 1) Because I want the zucchini to have a reason to be in them, and 2) I have been playing around with brown butter oats and I simply needed to put them in a dessert as soon as possible.

These cookies took me a minute because I was struggling to find the zucchini’s purpose (see tirade above). And by test 7 (..8?) I realized that zucchini’s moisture and subtle-sweet flavor, plus the toasted brown butter oats, kept coming out cakey if I went the traditional cookie route, so I ditched the eggs, nixed some flour, and went for a sticky-gooey cookie texture. Less flour, more oats, and way more zucchini. And it’s a great reason to use up a zucchini. And an even better reason to call this week Zucchini Week!

So hello! AND WELCOME TO ZUCCHINI WEEK! A week that happened on accident, but I’m so glad it did. Because I’m probably zucchini’s staunchest defender. Anyone who says that this vegetable (…..fruit?) is too wet, simply does not know how to handle it. WE ARE HARNESSING THE WET. And that is my formal statement.

Zucchini’s moisture is its secret weapon, it can be additive (like to the risotto you’ll see below), or it can help the zucchini melt into a rich, easy texture that’s perfect for a pile of vegetables and a simple sauce (I’ll come back to that next week). Zucchini also give us gorgeous little squash blossoms, which we only have a few more weeks of, so I felt like it was imperative that I fry them ASAP.

Thank you for listening to my rant, thank you for knowing I take my recipes seriously, and thank you for being in my newsletter inner circle. Let’s get to the good stuff:

The weekly round-up!

Vegan Stuffed Squash Blossoms - The ricotta stuffed version of these never appealed to me, but there’s something about the lightness of a tofu blend that I think is really special. Also I’m glad to finally get a plant-based version of this Italian classic out there!

Zucchini Risotto - I love this recipe, so very, very much. It harnesses the moisture in zucchini (I refuse to drain zucchini tbh), and also uses its natural sweetness to counter the richness of the risotto. I did a similar thing with tomato risotto last year, and I don’t know which one I love more.

Sticky Oaty Zucchini Cookies - A LABOR OF LOVE. And emphasis on sticky. These chewy, soft-centered cookies are for the oatmeal cookie lover in your life (ie. me) and that’s all because of the brown butter oats that go directly into the dough. Instead of browning the butter first and throwing the oats in at the end, the oats and butter brown together (!!) Making nutty, toasty oats that are chewy x10. I dream of them.

Now I’m *hoping* to do a themed week next week, but as soon as I make promises I end up jinxing it. So for now I’ll just be knees-deep in the heirloom tomatoes I bought this weekend, because it’s the most wonderful time of the year.

I already miss you. And that’s on codependency.

Xoxo,

Zucchini_Snacks