When life gives you zucchinis...

...I made zucchini bread.

I've never done this before. I'm not a huge fan of zucchinis, except in ratatouille. But my latest Hello Fresh box included a large zucchini and a Roma tomato, the two of which were intended to become a tomato-zucchini salad. I've had it before, and am not a huge fan. Also, I had just bought a pound of asparagus, because it's in season and on sale. So I had roasted asparagus with my salmon and Israeli cous-cous, and it was a tasty dinner.

But the zucchini was still sitting in the fridge, mocking me.

I went online and looked for recipes. The first one looked promising, but it called for applesauce, which I didn't have in the house. Several others called for walnuts, which I also didn't have, and didn't really want in my bread. I ended up with this recipe, which calls for a lot of spices (a definite plus in my book) and nothing I didn't already have.

My loaf isn't as pretty as the photos on the recipe page, and it broke in half when I was taking it out of the pan (which you can't tell from the photo). But I have eaten the first slice, slathered with butter, and it's very tasty. You can hardly even tell there's any zucchini in it. (I think you have to click through to see more than a thumbnail of the photo.)

More baking is imminent

Or possibly in process, depending on how you look at it.

I have mixed up a batch of Toll House cookie dough (the classic recipe, minus the optional nuts), and it's sitting in the fridge overnight, waiting to be baked up tomorrow. I'm not sure why an April snowstorm in Minneapolis led to a fit of baking, but I'm pretty sure they were connected somehow in my mind.

I remember once reading an article that claimed to contain a recipe for the world's best chocolate chip cookies. But I think it was in the New York Times food section, which is now behind a paywall, unless the people who decide such things have decided to relent. In any case, I remember nothing about the article except that it strongly recommended leaving the dough to rest overnight.

Since reading that, I've tried to plan things well enough that I have time to do so. It does seem to make a difference. At least, since then I haven't had the failure mode where the dough melts all around the chocolate chips, leaving them to stick up like rocks in a sandy landscape.

Does anyone else have advice or thoughts on the subject of chocolate chip cookies?