Recipe Time! I made a couple loaves of Zucchini Bread last week for my co-workers and it turned out really well. Some of them wanted the recipe, so here it is.(Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book)
Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini
1/4 cup cooking oil
1 egg
1/4 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
1. First mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl: flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and nutmeg.
2. In other bowl combine the wet ingredients: sugar, shredded zucchini, cooking oil, egg, and lemon peel. (For the zucchini, I just trim off the ends and then attack them with a grater.) Mix well, then add in the dry ingredients. Stir it til it’s all moistened as best you can. It’ll be super lumpy. The wetness will really depend on how watery your particular zucchini were.
3. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up the sides of your loaf pan. (Not all the way up the sides, because otherwise when you take the bread out it’ll fall. This way it sticks a little bit and doesn’t collapse.) Spoon in your batter and then chuck it in a 350°F oven for 55 to 60 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick close to the center. When it comes out clean, the bread is done!
I cool the bread in the pan on a rack until it’s touchable; then I slide a knife around the edges and pop the loaf out. Then I let that cool for a little while longer on the rack. It’s best if you can actually wrap it in foil and let it sit overnight (it’s easier to cut that way), but I think it tastes best warm from the oven smothered in butter, so it’s up to you.
7 responses
sounds delish. i’m printing this out for future adventures in baking.
I ate zucchini bread and a granny smith apple every day for lunch for several months when I was 13. (We had a bumper crop of zucchini the summer before, made lots of bread, and froze it). I don’t think I’ve been able to eat it since. The other item I ate that year for too many days in a row was the pastrami sandwich. I could see eating zucchini bread again, but I don’t think I’ll ever be able to eat pastrami.
Your recipe sounds nice, by the way; the lemon zest would be a nice addition. We always had walnuts in ours, which was good, too. My favorite topping for the bread was cream cheese.
Great! It’s one of my favorites. I never used to like zucchini as a kid except in this form. It’s so sweet and yummy. Recently I’ve also discovered another great zucchini recipe, courtesy of the Atkins Cookbook. Basically you just cut them into 1cm thick pieces (leaving skin on) and fry them in butter. YUM. Then sprinkle on salt, pepper, and the magic ingredient – NUTMEG – to taste. Yes, nutmeg. I thought it’d be weird at first til I realized it’s in the bread for a reason. It adds just the kick to make you think you’re eating a proper side dish instead of just vegetables.
Nutmeg’s good on spinach dishes, too.
Yeah, the original recipe calls for walnuts, Tricia. I tend to always leave optional nuts out. As a kid I used to hate it when otherwise great sweets(brownies, chocolate chip cookies, quick breads) would have extraneous nuts added. I think it was the crunchy/soft texture dichotomy. It’s funny, because now I actually love nuts and if I’d thought about it, I probably would’ve put them in. Hmm, maybe I’ll try that next time! (And cream cheese is an *excellent* topping suggestion.)
Hahaha… We’re stepping all over each other with these comments. Simultaneous commenting!
🙂