Slowly but surely, the zucchini in our CSA share have been growing by the week. It was easy to deal with the cute little patty pans, the small heirloomed striped zucchinis, and the lovely crook-necked yellow squashes. I was adding them to scrambled eggs, sautéing them with garlic, and happily managing the slow-build of summer squash that was entering our kitchen. Then came the big guns: large, unwieldy dark green and bulbous zucchinis….and I was a little bit frightened.
You see, my husband and I aren’t huge fans of summer squash. While I’m coming around to actually starting to like zucchini (a huge step in my personal development), my husband’s smile wavers when there’s some zucchini staring up on his dinner plate. He’ll eat it but he isn’t happy about it. However, he does like zucchini bread. In fact, the loves it. When I made some chocolate zucchini muffins a few years ago, he went crazy for them. So I figured that the easiest way to deal with one of the monster squash was to grate it into a pile and make zucchini bread.
This recipe makes 2 loaves of the quick bread which is perfect. Cornelius is heading out for a two week bike tour next weekend which will take him and a friend up to Nelson and Kaslo and the surrounding area. One of the loaves will be eaten this week and the other one will be frozen so that he can take it with him in one of his panniers. I’m sure he’ll be very happy to tuck into a slice or two of homemade zucchini bread while resting from the hilly ride along the Crows Nest highway.
While I didn’t stray to far from the original recipe posted by Elise, I did make a few changes. I subbed in roasted walnut oil for the melted butter and added a couple tablespoons of molasses because I was worried from the comments on her post that this loaf could be dry. My zucchini yielded just over three cups so instead of saving the small amount of zucchini for another use, I just stirred it all into the batter. I also added in ground cloves since I thought it would go nicely with the rest of the spices in the recipe. No harm done whatsoever. This quick bread had great flavour and I loved the buttery crunch from the walnuts. The loaf was moist without being greasy and despite the added molasses, this bread wasn’t too sweet at all. It was zucchini bread perfection.
And just a reminder to those using the roads and highways to keep an eye out for cyclists and give them plenty of room when you pass! And this goes out especially to those RV drivers who seem to love to hug the shoulder. Thank you.
walnut & cranberry zucchini bread
(recipe adapted from Simply Recipes)
2 large eggs
1 1/3 c sugar
2 T molasses
2 t vanilla
3 1/3 c grated zucchini
2/3 c roasted walnut oil (or melted unsalted butter or another oil)
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
3 c all-purpose flour
1/2 t nutmeg
2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1 c chopped pecans or walnuts
1 c dried cranberries or raisinsPreheat oven to 350F. Combine the eggs, sugar, molasses and vanilla together until well creamed. Stir in the zucchini, oil, salt and baking soda. Add in the flour, a cup at a time, until well blended. Sprinkle in the spices and fold in the nuts and the cranberries.
Butter and flour 2 loaf pans. Divide the batter between the two pans – each will be about half full which will give the loaves room to rise. Bake for 1 hour or until the done – when a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then invert them onto racks until throughly cool. Makes 2 loaves.
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I’ve been looking for good zucchini bread recipes to try out. There’s one I like but I’m trying to find differend kinds of recipes to see which one I like best. I love zucchini bread.
I can’t wait to try this. I made a delicious curried zucchini soup last night, and I’ve been wanting to try a bread soon. I think I found something to bake this weekend!
xo
first of all, i love how familiar this post is. nelson, kaslo and the crowsnest highway have all been very happy parts of my life. and i was just thinking the other day that i’m not going to be able to keep up with picking little zucchinis much longer. they’re starting to puff up fast!!!
can’t wait to try something other than the standard chocolate zucchini loaf, thanks!
All summer I have been waiting (hoping?) for the CSA-driven zucchini glut, but it hasn’t happened. Whenever it does, I’ll be making this bread.
I’ve been wanting to head up to Nelson and Kaslo for awhile now, I hear it’s beautiful. I bet it’s even better by bike… and a loaf of zucchini bread!
I find the giant, mutant summer squash off-putting. I’ve grated and baked the little ones into a cake, but there’s a crazy-big yellow squash still left over. Glad I’m not alone in my hesitancy to tackle it…
Safe travels to your husband! 🙂
That bike trip Cornelius is going on is something my husband would LOVE to do! I, on the other hand, would love to sink my teeth into this delicious looking zucchini bread! I love using walnut oil in salads but never though to add it into baked goods before. Something to keep in mind next time I bake…
my boyfriend…and well obviously me too…would love this! He is trying to be healthy, so when I tell him it has zucchini, it will be golden in his eyes…!
I like zucchinis very much but have never thought about adding it to my cakes and breads. Looks like I have something to explore!
Good luck to Cornelius on his ride!
I love zucchini in all of its forms, but especially when infused into baked goods. My roommate swears that one of her favorite of my baked goods is Martha’s zucchini cupcakes, which I made last year. And to think these are going up against cheesecakes, etc.! I will have to try this quickbread. I the cranberry addition.
mmmmmm that loaf looks gorgeous! i can almost taste it! i’m sure Cornelius will love every single bite, especially after a long bike ride. 🙂
plus, when has adding molasses ever been a bad thing?! this looks great – i too love zucchini bread!
I usually make a zucchini orange bread with nuts but I am definitely going to try this variation! Good luck to your hubby on his ride – that is a seriously hilly route.
I just made this and it is as good as it looks! I used whole wheat flour and reduced the sugar to 1 cup and it is still really amazing. I noticed the directions leave out when to add the oil – might be a good idea to add that in 😉
bellcurves, please try this one out – it’s a goodie.
CE, I hope you like this bread, I really enjoyed it! A curried zucchini soup sounds good too.
Ashley, so glad that this post resonated with you! I wish I was heading to the east kootneys too! I love it up there.
Elizabeth, with our csa, the glut is here! Yesterday more zucchini tumbled this way! Enjoy it when you can 🙂
Jacqui, it is so beautiful up there! A few years ago we went camping around there and loved it. I’d move up there in a heartbeat.
Maddie, shred that huge one into this quick bread. It’s worth it and once you eat it, it becomes totally non-threatening.
Bijoux, this is the first time I’ve used walnut oil in baking and it worked out well.
I hope you both love this bread, PCWG! It is healthy and delicious.
Jessie, if you like carrot cake, zucchini bread isn’t much different at all. My husband thinks it’s better 🙂
Thanks Joanne, I’ll pass along the well wishes. As for this bread, it’s a good one. I haven’t tried Martha’s cupcakes, but I think this one can stand on its own!
Karen, I think he will too.
Agreed, Heather.
Sue, your version sounds good too. I’m sure some orange zest would be lovely in this! Yup, it’s hilly but he should be okay – he did ride his bike to Montreal once!
Rebecca, doh! Thanks for the recipe spotting. Fixed! Glad you loved the bread 🙂
We have also been working through a slight over-abundance of summer squash. It is not my favorite vegetable in the world either – I like it quite a lot in small quantities, but our CSA is providing us with anything but small quantities!
We actually just recently posted about one new recipe we tried that was really good: http://foodandtheabstracttruth.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/summer-squash-gratin/
And I was planning on making a zucchini cake today, but might just make your zucchini bread instead!
Oddly I’ve never made zucchini bread before, and so I just bought some zucchini on the weekend to make some. I was going to make the one in the enchanted broccoli forest but maybe I’ll make this one instead! It looks amazing.
I absolutely support this excellent use of zucchini abundance. Zuke bread is the best and yours looks amazing, as usual!
I just let go of our CSA right before the zucchini onslaught. The timing is a shame both because I actually really like the stuff and because I have never made zucchini bread. I know, can you believe it?? This looks hearty healthy and tasty. One of my best friends is growing it and I’m hoping she throws some my way.
Julia, I hear you on over-abundance! Zucchinis to the max over here too. Your gratin looks great and I’m sure you’ll love this bread too.
I hope you try this one out, Ashley. It’s not as oily as other recipes I’ve seen and it’s super yummy.
Thanks redmenace!
Dana, you’ve never made zucchini bread? You’ll love it, I’m sure of that.
yumyum i want to make this 🙂 i might substitute raisans bc they are my fave!
You have me swooning over this bread. wow. look at all those beautiful colours!
Ah yes…swimming in zucchini. And my neighbors, for some strange reason, keep bringing me some of their own. I’ve been using them in every which way except baking, so I’ve got to get on this. Thanks for the inspiration–and love the fact that this uses walnut oil. I use it in salad dressings often, but don’t think I’ve ever baked with it. Coolness.
Do you think you could substitute applesauce or mashed bananas for the walnut oil?
gina, raisins would be fine in this 🙂
Thanks Amy, I love how the photo turned out & I love the flecks of colours.
Megan, this was my first time baking with it and it worked out fine!
Amanda, yes, I think you can safely add in applesauce or mashed bananas! I did that in this chocolate-zucchini muffin recipe: http://everybodylikessandwiches.com/2006/09/wait-theres-green-in-my-muffin/
I’d like to make this for a dinner, what flavors/foods will this go well with?
Esty, not sure what you mean since you can eat this for dessert.
Did you know that you can grate zucchini and freeze it for later use in quickbreads and such? Very easy, and you can save some of the summer bounty for a surprise fresh zucchini bread this fall or winter.
Oh my, that looks insanely tasty. You get to sneak summer veggies into a bread with Christmasy, desserty spices. What a treat. Can’t wait to make it.
Bridget, yes! I just did that a couple of weeks ago. I can’t wait to use it in the depths of winter.
Thanks Kate, it’s a good loaf with yummy warm spices. Enjoy!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I’ve been using my mom’s zucchini bread recipe forever and this one was a really nice change. I never thought to put cranberries in it, and I love how moist the molasses makes it. This will be my go-to recipe for zuchinni bread from now on!
Delicious recipe, thank you for sharing. I used only 1 cup of sugar and it was sweet enough for me.