Hey stranger... I missed you!
It's been a little while since the last time I posted, but I'm back and better than ever with one of my all-time favorites: zucchini bread!
I have just returned from a much needed getaway upstate with my boyfriend and his family. We stayed in the cutest little cabin in the woods (literally) and spent our time just enjoying the scenery and each others company!
The airbnb which we stayed at had a beautiful greenhouse overflowing with a variety of veggies- including the biggest zucchini I have ever seen in my life!
The homeowners were very kind and gave us some of their zucchini, so I just had to bake with it! Zucchini bread is very underrated, in my opinion. It's basically carrot cake, just with a different vegetable.
It is very strange using a kitchen that isn't yours... especially when there are zero cake pans, cupcake pans, or electric mixers on standby.
Since I am so comfortable with Big Red (my beautiful 7qt pro-line series kitchen aid mixer) I had to accept the fact that I would be making this recipe...
By hand.
Spooky, I know. Turns out, it was easier than I thought! I just made sure the butter was soft enough to mix by hand, but not too soft because you don't want it to melt!
First (as always) preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
1. Place the butter, both sugars, and vanilla into a mixing bowl (or standing mixer if you have one)
2. Cream together until it is soft and smooth. Technically, I did not use the creaming method here, since I did not have access to a mixer- but a spatula and some strength did the job. I will say though, my arm was definitely sore the next day!
3. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
4. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and add them gradually to the creamed butter and sugar mixture. (This took a lot of elbow grease).
While I worked on the batter, I had my (very handsome) sous chef shredding the zucchini.
***Remember to remove the seeds before you start shredding
(you only make that mistake once!)
5. Add the shredded zucchini and nuts (if you choose to add them, this time I did not) and mix by hand
There were absolutely no cake or cupcake pans in sight, but there was this cute little fish pan (which I'm sure is supposed to be a decoration only... don't tell the homeowners)
I decided to just go with it, poured the batter into the pan, and hoped for the best
...and it was a success! Not as detailed as I had hoped, but still super cute and delicious!
The house smelled so good that it didn't last 10 minutes out of the oven before everyone dug into it! This zucchini bread is perfect with a cup of coffee or tea in the morning, which is how I like to enjoy it.
If you wanted to spice it up a bit, bake this in a bundt pan and top it with a cream cheese icing- trust me on this one...
I hope you try this recipe, I'm sure you won't be disappointed!
Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!
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