5 March, 2020
Zucchini Zucchini Bread
This is how I sneak extra vegatables into my kids!! I make this bread a lot throughout the year. It’s especially great for using up extra zucchini from the garden or when it’s in season and they’re practically giving it away at the farmers market (…who am I kidding I don’t have a garden). You can make a double batch and freeze it, or even triple batch and make some muffins too.
Ingredients:
- 1 and 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 cup raisins (**optional, or you could substitute shredded carrots, or semi-sweet chocolate chips, or walnuts, or a combination of any/all of these totaling 1 cup. It’s a very versatile recipe.)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use extra virgin olive oil)
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (light or dark)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups -ish shredded Zucchini (about 2 small zucchini)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Grease a 9×5 (or 8×4) inch loaf pan.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg, together in a large bowl until thoroughly combined. Stir in raisins. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, stir the oil, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, vanilla, and zucchini together until combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Gently stir until *just* combined; do not overmix. Batter will be pretty thick.
Spread the batter into prepared loaf pan. I like to also sprinkle with some cinnamon sugar before baking, it’s not necessary but totally worth it.
Bake for 45 – 55 minutes in the center of the oven. (Make sure the bread is in the middle of the oven for even baking, for my oven I set the rack one notch below center.) Baking times vary so keep an eye on yours. The bread is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out *mostly* clean with zero raw batter.
Remove the bread from the oven and set on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before slicing.
Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for up to 3-4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes and variations:
Freezing Instructions: Bake it, cool it, wrap it up in aluminum foil, place foil wrapped loaf in a Ziploc bag and freeze the loaf as a whole. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before slicing and serving. Freezes well up to 3 months.
Muffins: Grease a 12-count muffin pan or line with liners. Prepare batter per instructions. Spoon the batter evenly into each liner, filling each all the way to the top. Bake the muffins for 5 minutes at 425°F then, keeping the muffins in the oven, reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Bake for an additional 13-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. The total time these muffins take in the oven is about 18-21 minutes, give or take. Allow the muffins to cool for 5 minutes in the muffin pan, then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling