I don't, as a rule, like zucchini. That's why I have no plans at all to grow any. Besides, if I should want some, everyone always has too much of it! I don't know when is the last time I went through a summer without someone offering me free zucchini.
Last week I got to go help make jam at a friend's mom's house (which was the BEST! they have this big vegetable garden and were extracting honey that day!) and left with two jars of jam, a cucumber, and a zucchini the size of a baseball bat. They were going to throw it away! So I rescued it, with the knowledge there will always be at least one thing you can do with zucchini -- make zucchini bread. I love zucchini bread.
So I got home and hunted for a recipe, only to discover that pretty much all of them had two or even three cups of sugar! That is way too much, in my opinion. It tastes fine, but I had the feeling it would taste equally fine with less, plus I'd feel much better about sharing with the baby -- and eating it myself -- with less sugar. So I went out on a limb, surveyed the recipes, decided on my changes, and went for it. It was delicious.
Less-Sugar Zucchini Bread
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl combine:
1/2 cup melted butter (you can add a whole cup, but butter is expensive and it was fine with 1/2 cup)
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses (or use brown sugar instead of white sugar)
2 cups grated zucchini (easy in a food processor, but possible by hand too)
1 egg
Mix the wet ingredients. In a separate bowl (or on top of the wet, in the same bowl, if you're like me) mix the dry:
3 cups flour (white, wheat, or a combination)
1 tablespoon cinnamon
dash nutmeg
dash ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Fold in any add-ins (optional):
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, pecans, etc.
1 cup raisins, dried cranberries, or chocolate chips
Pour into two greased and floured loaf pans, or muffin tins for 24 muffins.* Bread is done in about an hour; muffins will be done in 20 to 25 minutes... or whenever a knife comes out clean. Allow to cool a bit before cutting.
*I fit mine into one pan, but I think my loaf pan is extra-large or something. Also I left out the option add-ins. A good option is to fill your loaf pan 3/4 full of batter and then distribute the rest into some muffin cups.
It turned out well enough that I have a second batch in the oven now, after only two days! I didn't miss the extra sweetness at all.
4 comments:
Oh, good, you posted the recipe. It was delicious. I'll have to try this, as I still have two of the baseball bats left. I bet it would be fine with more of the zucchini. The recipe I use makes 3 loaves and I've increased the zucchini to 8 cups without altering anything else in the recipe. And it turns out well, just somewhat moister.
Zucchini bread is so forgiving!
I don´t see the eggs in this recipe... How many did you use?
Huh. I could have sworn there was an egg in there. Try one egg and see how it goes. Like I said, though, it's forgiving. I believe it works with no eggs as well.
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