Zucchini Bread

It’s that time of year when your vegetable garden is spitting out more zucchinis than you can eat! Zucchini bread is a great way to use up some of the zucchinis in a sweet, wonderful breakfast treat. When I was creating this recipe I knew I wanted this loaf to be a few things: moist, sort of plush on the inside, crisp on the outside, sweet but not too sweet and a little bit spiced with some warm spices like cinnamon and nutmeg. My recipe has butter, oil and applesauce in it which makes it super moist and fluffy. An important step is to allow this bread to cool completely in the pan, uncovered, even overnight or at least 8-10 hours. This allows all the flavors to really meld together and the texture to become just right. Im pretty confident this will be the best zucchini bread you’ve ever had!

Ingredients-

• 1 Stick Unsalted Butter, Softened but not melted

• 1 Cup White Granulated Sugar

• 1/2 Cup packed Dark Brown Sugar

• 1/4 Cup Canola or Vegetable Oil

• 1/2 Cup Apple Sauce

• 2 1/4 Cups of Grated Zucchini (grated, packed zucchini, NOT wrung out, grated on the large holes of a box grater) (Do NOT peel your zucchini first)

• 2 Large Eggs

• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

• 2 Cups of All Purpose Flour

• 1 1/2 Teaspoons Fine Table Salt

• 3/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda

• 3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder

• 1 3/4 Teaspoons Cinnamon

• 1/8 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg

• Small Dash of Ground Clove

• 1 1/2 Cups of Chopped Walnuts

• 2-3 Tablespoons of Sugar in the Raw (or Turbinado Sugar)

Steps-

1. Preheat your oven to 350F. Spray a 9x5 Inch Loaf Pan with Nonstick Cooking Spray .

2. In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or with a hand beater, beat together the butter, oil, white sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the apple sauce and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

3. Add the grated zucchini and just mix until combined. If you are not using a paddle attachment on a mixer just stir it in by hand.

4. In a separate bowl stir together the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, clove baking soda and baking powder.

5. Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and just mix until combined. You don’t want to over beat of the bread can get tough and chewy. Mix in the chopped walnuts or fold them in with a spoon.

6. spread the batter evenly into your prepared pan. Generously sprinkle the top with the Raw Sugar and an extra dusting of cinnamon.

7. Place in the middle rack of your oven and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean in the center of the bread. Let cool completely in the pan. Leave in pan, unwrapped, overnight or 24 hours, until removing it carefully from the pan and serving in slices. Zucchini bread keeps for 4 to 5 days at room temperature. I wrap only the cut end of the cake in foil, and return it to the baking pan, leaving the top exposed so that it stays crunchy.

   Tip: I like to serve mine with some whipped cream cheese! Delish!