Zucchini is at its prime in the summertime and I find myself buying more and more of the bright green beauties at the farmers market each and every week. While I always have well-meaning thoughts and experiments planned with the veg, sometimes the best laid plans go awry and I find myself looking in the fridge on a Friday to find some zucchini piled up and needing to be used. These extras either go into a creamy pasta sauce or this sweet, moist zucchini bread. What makes this recipe different? After so, so, so much trying, I finally hit upon the combo that keeps my zucchini bread light and fluffy instead of dense and heavy, and that's without even squeezing the grated zucchini...
Ingredients
- 2 cups Flour (for Namaste gluten-free flour this is a 1:1 ratio)
- 3/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 3/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons Cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1/4 cup Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 cup Avocado Oil or Butter
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 2 Whole Eggs, room temperature
- 1 Medium to Large Zucchini
Preparation
To make this bread, you will want to find a grater for the zucchini and allow your eggs to come to room temperature. If you are gluten-free, grab that gluten-free flour (we use Namaste), and if you are dairy-free, grab your favorite nondairy milk. An optional ingredient that we believe really takes this bread over the top is Penzey's Vanilla Sugar for sprinkling on top so head to Penzey's in Downtown Overland Park all you local friends!
Instructions
How to Do It:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a loaf pan with parchment paper for easy removal after baking.
2. Grate your zucchini into a bowl. Allow it to sit while you move forward mixing the other ingredients, and drain 1-2 times if water pools in the bottom of the bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, 1 tablespoon of the cinnamon and salt.
4. In another bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, granulated sugar, oil or butter, vanilla and eggs.
5. Add the grated zucchini to the flour and toss to coat. Then, slowly incorporate the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir to combine. Add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until your mixture just comes together and the dry mixture is all combined, but do not let it become runny.
6. Pour the batter into the loaf pan and sprinkle with vanilla sugar if using, and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Bake 45 minutes-1 hour. Stick a toothpick or knife into the center at 45 minutes to check for doneness. When it comes out clean, the bread can come to cool.
7. Cool for 10-15 minutes in the loaf pan and then remove to let cool completely.
