zucchini walnut loaf

My mom would be very proud!

One thing I love about zucchini bread is that the zucchini is pretty much a secret. AND it's delicious!

So on a Wednesday afternoon after coming home early from work, I decided it was time to begin this cooking journey...with zucchini bread. I followed a recipe I found on smittenkitchen.com. See recipe below :)

Zucchini Bread

Yield: 2 loaves or approximately 24 muffins

3 eggs
1 cup olive or vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 cup dried cranberries, raisins or chocolate chips or a combination thereof (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Grease and flour two 8×4 inch loaf pans, liberally. Or line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

In a large bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk. Mix in oil and sugar, then zucchini and vanilla.

Combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder and salt, as well as nuts, chocolate chips and/or dried fruit, if using.

Stir this into the egg mixture. Divide the batter into prepared pans.

Bake loaves for 60 minutes, plus or minus ten, or until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Muffins will bake far more quickly, approximately 20 to 25 minutes.

I only had one baking pan so I cut the recipe in half which didn't really affect the taste but the size of the bread was a little...small. The bread turned out really moist and delicious! However, my bread was not as plump as I would have liked and so next time I might use the full recipe or 3/4 of the recipe to make one loaf...i like it tall!

The bread received rave reviews from its tasters (myself, my boyfriend and his friend).

SUCCESS! yummmm