Zucchini Bread Recipe

Every year as soon as summer fades and the weather cools down I get bitten by the baking bug. Yesterday was a chilly, rainy day and was perfect for turning on the oven. I decided to make a batch of zucchini bread since I had one last large zucchini from the end of summer harvest from my garden.

I love to make quick breads and in particular zucchini bread has a special place in my heart and stomach. It was something that my family made often when I was a kid and is a childhood favorite. As an adult a slice of zucchini bread with a dab butter and a cup of tea makes the perfect treat for me on a rainy afternoon.

The recipe I use today is essentially the same as my traditional family one but I replaced half of the oil with applesauce to make it a little lighter. It makes the zucchini bread a titch sweeter and moister but retains all the flavors of my youth.

Ingredients List
- 3 cups flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 3 tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 cup oil
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 3 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups sugar
- 3 cups zucchini, grated
- 1/2 cup nuts, chopped 

Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 and grease and flour two loaf pans
- Slice zucchini in half, remove seeds and grate using a large box grater or the coarsest grater in a food processor
- Stir together flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon
- In a separate bowl beat together eggs, applesauce, oil, and vanilla and then stir in sugar
- Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until fully incorporated
- Stir in zucchini and nuts and then pour batter into prepared pans
- Bake for 40-50 minutes until tester inserted in the center comes out clean 
- Let cool for 15 minutes, remove loaves from pans and then let them cool completely on wire racks 

The recipe makes two loaves, so feel free to share one or since it freezes well, wrap one up and freeze it for a later day. I've also baked up the batter in mini loaves and muffins with great success.

Are you doing any fall baking? What is in your oven?

Comments

[Hilary]

This weekend I took the easy way out and made pumpkin muffins with a can of pumpkin and a box of spice cake mix. Usually not a fan of box mixes, but this rocks!

[Lisa]

Hilary- That sounds delicious! I love pumpkin muffins. I think that once I polish off the rest of this zucchini bread I may make some myself...

[Sandy]

I tried your recipe this weekend, and it was a huge hit at our house! I'll definitely make this one again! Thank you for sharing it with us.

I have a funny story to share about zucchini bread that happened many years ago. My husband and I used to always visit his grandmother in Connecticut over the Thanksgiving holidays. The last time we ever visited her, we decided to leave on the evening of the holiday instead of waiting until the next morning as we had originally planned. It had been a long day already, and we had a minimum of eight hours of driving to put in before we stopped for the night.

My husband's grandmother was such a thoughtful woman, and she packed us a tin of homemade breads and other snacks to take on the road. After driving for probably three or four hours that night, we decided to have some of her delicious zucchini bread that we knew she'd put in the tin. As always, it was moist and flavorful and it always made us think of the special woman who'd baked it.

After stopping at a hotel for the night, we were up early the next morning to tackle the remaining 16 hours of driving that would finish off our trip. After piling into the car, we decided to finish off the zucchini bread for breakfast. Imagine our horror when we opened the tin to discover that the bread was covered in a fine layer of mold! What we'd been happily munching on in cover of darkness the night before now didn't seem anywhere near as appealing and, in fact, made us wonder if later we'd live to regret our late-night snack.

Fortunately, there were no repercussions, and the only lasting impression includes the funny memory of a wonderful grandma and her inadvertent gift.

[Lisa]

Sandy- I'm glad to hear that you liked the recipe. What a funny story about your husband's grandmother's zucchini bread! I'm glad no one got sick! Thank you for sharing. :)