We’ve been so fabulously seasonal lately here on Flaky Bakers, with our Blueberry Cheesecake Pie, Fresh Blueberry Pie, and (for our furry family members) Peanut Butter and Blueberry Pupcakes. As blueberry season is winding down, it seemed only right to head into zucchini season with a zucchini bread recipe.
Last fall, my friend Kayte had asked if I had a good zucchini bread recipe, and I’d said yes, indeed, and promised to send it to her when I returned home. But, due to a family emergency, I never ended up getting the recipe to her. So, this is especially for you, Kayte.
I don’t grow zucchini—my family is not fond of the vegetable, but I can usually get away with putting it in soups without complaints. But zucchini bread is something we look forward to every year, and we’re blessed with neighbors who grow it.
I say blessed, but my husband always jokes that in Vermont, the only time of year people lock their cars is during zucchini season so they don’t end up with bags of unwanted zucchini in their backseats. But I love that I can go for a walk, and have a neighbor call out to me, “You want some zucchini?”
Yes. Yes, I do. I’ll bake loaves of it for us, for putting in the freezer, and for giving to our fabulous neighbors. I’ll bag up shredded zucchini and throw it into the freezer for turning into zucchini bread out of season.
If you grow it, you know you always end up with more than you can possibly use, and you also know that the little one you saw on the vine yesterday, that maybe needed another day or two to grow, can turn into a monster zucchini seemingly overnight. While that monster doesn’t make for good eating on its own, it does make for great zucchini bread.
ANY size, in fact, makes for great zucchini bread, so don’t think you can’t make this recipe unless you have an overgrown vegetable on hand.
This recipe is a modified version of one gifted to me from my friend Anita over twenty years ago. (She’s the source of my out-of-this-world banana bread, as well, so you know this one is GREAT.) Unlike the banana bread recipe, I ended up having to make a few adjustments to this one. Her recipe was supposed to make two loaves, but when I doubled it, I ended up with only three loaves. I couldn’t very well post the single recipe that would likely give you 1 1/2 loaves, so I had to do a wee bit of math-ing and adjusting to get the recipe the right size for one loaf.
And, oh my, those slight changes did only good things to this recipe. It’s moist, buttery, spicy, and sweet. It’s reminiscent of carrot cake, but has it’s own unique flavor and the texture is more tender—almost melt-in-your-mouth tender. And eating just one slice takes Herculean self-control. As soon as my slice was gone, I was already itching for another.
One of the things that makes this recipe such a winner, in my opinion, is the addition of chopped raisins. To have small pieces of that natural sweetness in every bite really levels this recipe up. You absolutely can leave your raisins whole or even leave them out if you’re raisin-averse. I will tell you that the original recipe I got from Anita had the option to use crushed pineapple for the raisins. I’ve never tried it, but I imagine it would be kind of heavenly, too.
Happy zucchini season and happy baking, friends!
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (optional)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (double if using unsalted butter)
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 2/3 cup raisins, chopped coarsely (can substitute with an equal amount of crushed pineapple)
- 1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped or ground
- 1/4 cup ground flaxseeds/flaxmeal
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F/177 C. Grease and flour a bread loaf pan. Shred the zucchini, coarsely chop the raisins, and set aside.
- Cream butter and sugar, then add the eggs and mix until light and fluffy. Stir in shredded zucchini, vanilla, and lemon extract.
- Add cinnamon, salt, flour, baking soda and powder, and mix until well combined. Stir in chopped raisins, nuts, and flaxmeal.
- Spread batter into prepared loaf pan, and bake for 60-65 minutes, until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean.
- Let cool completely before slicing for the cleanest slices. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Freeze in a zip top freezer bag for longer storage, and thaw completely before slicing.
Notes