August 30, 2012
This fun recipe is the result of a few rounds of tinkering. The bread is moist with a tasty, crunchy topping, and most importantly, it’s loaded with zucchini. Growing zucchini you soon realize results in a massive harvest. I’ve learned my lesson over the years and now interrupt the zucchini overload by harvesting the flowers, which stunts some of the growth.
I’ve been on the hunt for a while for a great zucchini bread recipe. Most call for one, maybe two cups of shredded veggies– that’s about one store-bought zuch, and that’s just not going to cut it.
In my rendition, I use three cups of grated zucchini, and as a nod to both healthy eating and my recent trip to Hawaii, I used coconut throughout the recipe. Most health food stores carry unsweetened coconut, so just look around. This bread is purposefully not too sweet because the crunchy streusel topping is plenty.
Makes 6 mini loaves (6×3), 2 medium loaves (8×4), or 1 big daddy loaf (9×5)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Bread:
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup sugar
2/3 cups coconut oil
2 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs, at room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
3 cups white whole-wheat or all-purpose flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
Streusel Topping:
¼ cup unsweetened coconut flakes
¼ cup butter softened
¼ cup brown or raw sugar
½ teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup flour
First, grate the zucchinis, stick them in a colander and let drain while you mix up the rest of the ingredients.
Grease pan with non-stick cooking spray of choice (I like this one from Spectrum – they even make a coconut oil one that is pretty awesome). Grab two large bowls, one for dry ingredients and one for wet. Mix the shredded coconut, flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and ginger in bowl number one. Whisk the wet ingredients together in the second bowl. Then, combine the bowls to make a batter using a large spoon, and portion into your loaf pans. I love these little ones from Wilton – it makes breads like these easier to share with friends, rather than making one large loaf. I also tend to eat less this way, which is always better for my waistline.
Incorporate all the ingredients for the streusel topping together in a third bowl. I simply mash it together with a fork, and then sprinkle it over the top of the mixture once it’s in the loaf pan. Bake for 30 minutes for the smaller loaves, 45 minutes for an 8-inch pan and when using a 9-inch pan, check after an hour.
