Zucchini Bread
Zucchini bread is a retro-style treat, but once you pop a warm lightly buttered bite in your mouth, you won’t care what century it’s from. The prunes—actually dried plums—provide moisture to the bread and help replace the need for a large amount of fat in the batter. If walnuts aren’t your thing, go for pecans or almonds.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb. (250 g) zucchini, trimmed
- 3/4 cup (6 oz./185 g) sugar
- 1/2 cup (4 fl. oz./125 ml) canola oil or neutral oil of choice
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 cups (7 1/2 oz./240 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 cup (3 oz./90 g) chopped pitted moist-pack plums (prunes), dried dates or figs
- 1/3 cup (1 1/2 oz./45 g) coarsely chopped walnuts, optional
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F (180°C). Line an 8-by-4-inch (20-by-10-cm) loaf pans with parchment paper, leaving 2 inches (5 cm) hanging off the sides.
Using the large holes on a box grater-shredder, shred the zucchini. In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla on medium speed until pale and creamy, about 1 minute. Switch to a wooden spoon and stir in the shredded zucchini until blended.
In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, prunes and walnuts. Add the flour mixture to the zucchini mixture and stir with the wooden spoon just until combined. The batter will be stiff. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake until the bread is firm to the touch and a toothpick inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean 55 to 60 minutes.
Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool slightly, about 10 minutes. Then turn the loaf out onto the rack and let cool completely before serving, about 2 hours. Makes 1 loaf.
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Bake Good Things (Weldon Owen, 2014).
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