Monday is here again and I have another quick fix for you. In the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day it’s even green – sort of. The star ingredient is anyways.
This is my Zucchini Bread spun healthy-ish treat. We love Zucchini in our house and usually we get a ton from the garden and are just about all zucchini-ed out by the time the next growing season is upon us. But this long, cold winter had us craving some of our summer favorites. So Aubie Cakes and I ‘quick fix’ed that right up today!
The house smells amazing and we have awesome breakfast or snack or lunch treats for the week now! And it really is quick to throw together. It does take a while to bake but just set a timer so you don’t forget and you can be doing bed time routines and before you know, voila fresh delicious zucchini bread!
So without further ado:
Mamas (sorta healthy makeover- shhh don’t tell the kids) Zucchini Bread
3 C flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon (more or less to your liking)
3 eggs
1/2 C extra light olive oil (in place of veggie oil)
1/2 C plus 2 tbsp unsweetened natural applesauce (to eliminate all that oil)
2 1/4 C coconut sugar (can be hard to find, try your gluten free isle. It does have a slightly different flavor than sugarcane. I would describe it almost caramel-like or a bit nutty. It’s delicious! I substitute coconut sugar for anything I can!)
3 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 C freshly grated zucchini
1 C chopped walnuts (optional)
Sift all dry ingredients together, flour, salt, soda, powder, cinnamon, in a large bowl and set aside.
In a mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer add eggs, oil, applesauce, coconut sugar, and vanilla. Beat until well combined and creamy.
Add the sifted dry ingredients to the mixture all at once. Beat on medium low until well combined. You should have a nice thick consistency that is a bit sticky. Not too runny as zucchini has a lot of water content and will thin out the batter after you add it in.
Remove bowl from mixer.
Finely shred 2 medium green zucchini into the bowl. I use about 3 cups (loosely packed) and the consistency of the bread is perfect.
Gently fold zucchini and walnuts into the batter, careful to maintain the consistency of the zucchini and walnut. Do not over mix. Just be sure the zucchini and walnuts are evenly distributed.
Pour into two pre treated pans. I used baking spray with flour on a small loaf pan and an 8×8 square pan. I filled both about half full. They rose beautifully but did not overfill the pans.
Bake at 325 for approximately 60 minutes. Or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack for at least 15-20 minutes prior to removing from the pan.
Enjoy!!
A little late night snack I won’t be angry with myself for tomorrow.
That’s it for our quick fix, I promise it’s so simple, comes together quickly, and you’d never know you cut the sugar and oil to practically nothing. It has the taste of all the guilt without actually having to feel badly!
Aubie Cakes & Mama Bakes 