I'm getting ready to maybe start this baking venture as a way to get a little extra cash now that my hours at work have been cut (and perhaps as a way to attract the attention of a man or two), and I've been testing out recipes like crazy lately. One of the recipes I've been working on is this one for zucchini bread. On the first go around, everyone loved it. Lots of crazy people preferred it to my applesauce cake and my cranberry-orange bread. My friends and co-workers are apparently all nutters because I was totally unsatisfied. It had too much ginger, wasn't sweet enough, had an usatisfying texture, and didn't have enough oomph. I made it as a loaf and was having a hard time getting it to cook all the way through without getting overcooked on the outside. I was really disappointed in it, to be frank.
Last night, however, I did it. I don't want to say it is perfect, but it is so, so much better. My initial recipe was something I'd only make for others and not really eat myself. I'd defintely nosh on this iteration, though. This first important change from my first recipe was making muffins instead of a loaf. Obviously, the cooking time is shorter, so there isn't the problem with over-browning or drying out that I was running into before. I also cut the ginger and added more cinnamon. I'm a huge fan of cinnamon, and I tend to use more than a recipe calls for. I think it is hard to have too much of it. Finally--and, I think, importantly--I added a tablespoon of buttermilk. I pretty much think buttermilk has magic properties in baked goods. I don't fully understand them, but I am sure they are magic. My chocolate cake recipe, for example, has buttermilk, and it is amazing.
So here it is, my zucchini bread recipe. I think it has a lot going for it, and though I rarely follow recipes as they are written, you might try it with this one at least once.
Zucchini Bread/Muffins
2 cups + 2 tbsp. flour
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. ginger
⅛ tsp. allspice
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup melted butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1tsp. vanilla
1 to 1½ cups grated zucchini (1 small to medium zucchini)
½ tsp finely grated lemon rind
1 tbsp. buttermilk
½ cup nuts (I skip these if the muffins are for me; otherwise, walnuts work great.)
1. Preheat oven to 350ยบ. Grease a standard loaf pan with butter or shortening or line muffin pan with muffin liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. In a separate bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and eggs for two minutes with an electric mixer at medium speed. Add the vanilla, and then add the zucchini, lemon rind, and buttermilk and mix for an additional 30 seconds.
2. Using a large rubber spatula, stir in the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Don’t overmix. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 60+ minutes or pour into muffin liners and bake for 20 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly touched and a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before turning the bread or muffins out to cool completely on the wire rack.
Makes 1 loaf or 16 muffins.
