What’d You Do Last Weekend?
Want to try a gluten-free dessert that tastes anything but? How about hanging your lip on a Nanaimo bar? The recipe's from our neighbors up north, but the gluten-free graham crackers are a creation of Celiac Teen's Lauren. Unbelievable.
Monga's Classic Zucchini Bread
I'm not sure of the origin of zucchini quick bread, but I wonder if it came out of the WWII Victory Gardens. I decided to make zucchini bread this week, so I spent some time looking up old recipes to compare methods and ingredients. There was no mention of zucchini bread (or squash cake, as I have seen it referred to) in anything I have that's older than about 1940. That may be just a coincidence, or the result of my cookbook selection - I'm not sure.
One thing for certain - nearly every recipe I did find had almost the same ingredients. I compared everything to Ruhlman's quick bread technique in Ratio, and this recipe seems to stand the test of time with a few variations for additions like raisins, nuts, and spices.
That said, for this loaf I started with Todd's grandmother's recipe and reduced the sugar and added one variation of my own: orange extract. I think it brightens a very sweet cake and gives it a little more dimension.
Classic Zucchini Bread
2 c AP flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
3 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
1 c vegetable oil
1 1/4 c sugar
2 c zucchini, shredded
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange extract
1 c golden raisins and currants (combined)
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
- Combine the remaining ingredients except for the raisins.
- Toss the raisins in the dry ingredients to separate them from one another.
- Combine the wet ingredients with the dry in a few swift strokes.
- Pour into a well greased loaf pan.
- Bake 45 - 60 minutes (depending on the depth of your loaf pan) until a toothpick comes out clean.
More Info
Brown Eyed Baker's Zucchini Bread
Elise has a couple of recipes for zucchini bread on Simply Recipes as well