Zucchini Bread! And Erin and Abby were at it again.........

I love it when Erin and her friend, Abby, take over my kitchen.  You may remember their cheeseburger cake from a previous post.  This was their latest creation:

Totally yummy.

Happily devoured by the two families!

They are already planning their next masterpiece.

I'm not sure that the recipe for zucchini bread that I'm about to give you qualifies as a masterpiece.  But it sure will come in handy when those zucchini in your garden start multiplying so quickly that you run out of people to give them to.

Bake zucchini bread instead!    Moist and bursting with the flavor of cinnamon,  this zucchini bread is a big hit in my house.

Today's Playlist

• "Troublemaker"......Weezer
• "Lump".......The Presidents Of The United States Of America
• "Love And Affection"..Neon Trees
• "Last Night".......Carolina Liar
• "Knights Of Cydonia"......Muse
• "Rhythm Of Love".......Plain White T's

Zucchini Bread

• 3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 cups unpeeled, shredded zucchini (about 2 small to medium zucchini)

topping ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Gather your ingredients.  I forgot to take the eggs out of the fridge.  Then, when it was time to put the eggs into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients, I had to scramble.  Not the eggs, me.  I was scrambling.  Bad verb choice.

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease (or spray with cooking spray) two 8 x 4" or 9 x 4" loaf pans.



Prep your topping.  In a small bowl, melt the 1/4 cup butter . Just zap it for about 30 seconds in your microwave, it doesn't have to be totally melted, just mostly liquid.  Add the remaining topping ingredients to the mostly-melted butter and stir them together.

It will be a mushy, like this.  Set it aside.

 Lop the ends off of the zucchini.  I have three zucchini here because they were pretty small.  I wasn't sure that two of them would be enough, but it was plenty.  Make sure you use small-ish zucchini.  They have less seeds than the larger zucchini.

After you've trimmed the ends off, grate the zucchini.  I just use a box grater and it takes about one minute.

All done with the advance prep.

In a large mixer bowl, combine all of your bread ingredients except the shredded zucchini.

The flour, sugar and brown sugar..........

........butter, eggs and cinnamon........

                                                  .......salt, baking soda, baking powder......

........and finally, the vanilla.  Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, about two or three minutes, or until well-mixed.

This is what your batter will look like.  It will sorta taste like chocolate-chip cookie dough.  Without the chocolate chips, of course.

Add the shredded zucchini, and stir by hand.

Like this.  Now it tastes like chocolate-chip cookie dough with zucchini instead of chocolate chips.

Spread the batter into your greased loaf pans.

I don't have matching loaf pans.  And while I'm confessing, I will come clean and tell you that the loaf pan on the left has snowflakes on the side of it.  And the pans are not the same size; one is 8 x 4" and the other is 9 x 4".   I will adjust the cooking time if I have to.

The topping that you prepped when we started?  Grab it with your hands and crumble it over the top of the loaves.

Like this.

Bake for 65 to 75 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.

Cool for 10 minutes.  Remove from pans.  Serve warm or cooled.

Enjoy!