My mom was always baking the best things when we were kids. (She still bakes daily actually!) She has a few tried and true recipes that became hits with family friends, and they’d be in heavy rotation throughout the year. I think each of our family friends has a particular favorite that they request whenever they visit. Zucchini bread is my BFF’s favorite, and it’s definitely in the top three for me.
Zucchini bread is perfect for fall. Just the smell of it alone brings me back to so many amazing memories. It makes two loaves, so you can keep one for yourself and share the other with a friend. It’s a great thing to bake when you have company (we eat it for breakfast and even put it out as an appetizer) or for when you want to bring something over to a friend’s house as a gift.
I wish I could do a better job describing the bread, but trust me it is everything one could possibly love about fall in bread. What could be better? A little cinnamon-y. Soft inside with a slightly crunchy exterior (the ends are the best part). Can be warmed up, covered in butter, or just plain. While it doesn’t taste like zucchini, there are vegetables in there so if you want to convince yourself it’s “healthy” because of that, well, I certainly wouldn’t judge.
So the first time I attempted to make this without my mom, I failed miserably and kind of vowed to never try again. (It’s hard when your mom sets such a high bar for baked goods…. everything else falls short!) This year I was committed to trying again and I figured out what I was doing wrong. Halfway through making the bread. It ended up turning out fine but you can see in the video where I made the error.
The recipe itself is pretty easy and straightforward:
BLEND 3 eggs + 1 cup vegetable oil
ADD 2 ¼ cups sugar + 2 teaspoons vanilla
SIFT + ADD 3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon salt, 3 teaspoons of cinnamon
ADD 2 cups grated zucchini*
BAKE 40-50 minutes @ 350°
*My mistake! The zucchini should look like shredded zucchini, NOT like a pile of mush! Whoops! If you grate it correctly, you should get the two cups from two large zucchinis. I used the wrong side and had softer, juicier zucchini. I ended up needing four and then I had to drain the (tons of) excess liquid out. It ended up fine in the end, but you’re better of grating the zucchini correctly in the first place.
My bread took about 56 minutes to bake. After about 30 minutes though, the aroma of the bread starts spreading throughout the kitchen and house. Waiting for the bread to finish baking is torture! I didn’t even let the bread fully cool before I cut my first slice.
