Zucchini Bread

Zucchini Bread

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 beaten egg
1 cup sugar
1 cup finely shredded, unpeeled zucchini
1/4 cup cooking oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted

1. Grease the bottom and 1/2 inch up sides of an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan; set aside. In a medium bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg. Make a well in center of flour mixture; set aside.
2. In another medium bowl combine egg, sugar, zucchini, and oil. Add zucchini mixture all at once to flour mixture. Stir until just moistened (batter should be lumpy). Fold in nuts. Spoon batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in 350º oven for 50 to 55 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely on a wire rack. Wrap and store overnight before slicing.

Makes 1 loaf (16 servings).

I was at a friend's house in elementary school when her mom offered me zucchini bread. I remember thinking,"Y'all are crazy," and I politely declined. I come from more of a banana bread family. Now that I have married a banana-hater and I have a vegetable-hater for a daughter (and I've had time to grow into a much more adventureous eater), I was more than willing to give zucchini bread a chance. I found this recipe in my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook.

The ingredients:







Dry ingredients all mixed together.

Grated zucchini.

All the wet ingredients mixed together. I adore the green color this concotion gave me. It's so pretty! I know that sounds weird to love the green that's going into your bread but you zucchini bread lovers out there understand.

Here are the wet and dry ingredients as they are ready to be mixed together.

The finished batter as it's poured into the bread pan and is ready to go into the oven. Unlike most recipes I saw, this recipe only makes one loaf which is great if you're preparing it for a small crowd.

The bread right after it came out of the oven. The recipe states that after it has cooled, you are supposed to wrap it up in plastic wrap and let it set overnight before cutting into it. I'm much too inpatient to wait for that so I ignored that directive.

The finished product: mmm...zucchini bread. When we had it the first night, it was pretty good. The sweetness was about perfect and the texture was okay. After I wrapped it and let the remaining bread set overnight, it was much better. I don't know why but it was so much moister the next day. I will definitely wrap and wait because it improves this bread 10-fold (and maybe I'll even listen to the recipe next time I try something new...maybe). The moistness of the bread combined with the sweetness and spice were really good. I still have some zucchini so I'm going to go make some more right now.