A New Beginning

Tonight, in honor of the first post on this blog, I am baking something that I have never baked before: Zucchini Bread. I don’t actually recommend baking things for the first time when the product is for someone else. I am making a new recipe, however, because this is the internet and no one who reads this will be forced to try it and also because I went to the farmer’s market last weekend and I had an extra zucchini.
This recipe is from my family’s cookbook that I acquired over the summer. It was submitted by my aunt, which is why I chose this recipe over the other zucchini bread recipe in the collection. I can blame her if it’s  awful, right? Just kidding. I don’t think that will be a problem.
Here’s what you do:
Get your ingredients together

Grate your zucchini. I cut off the ends and used a cheese grater…because that’s all the fancy equipment med students can afford. I also pressed out some of the liquid with a paper towel. It should look something like this, though hopefully with better resolution in real life
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Add your ingredients to a decent sized bowl and mix together.



Pour/spoon mixture into a greased baking vessel. Whatever you happen to have around is fine as demonstrated below.

Pop it in the oven for around an hour. It will rise and appear drier as it cooks. Make sure when you stick a fork in the center that it comes out clean and that the bread doesn’t appear to wobble. If you put it too high up in the oven, the top will cook but the center will still be uncooked. If that happens, move it down a rack if possible and continue baking. When it’s all done it comes out a wonderful light brown and smells like cinnamon.

The verdict: I really like the result except that it is much more of a muffin than a bread. That is, it is more sugary that I was hoping. If I make zucchini bread again in the future I might search for a different recipe or I’ll try adding less sugar to this one.
Summary:
Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup oil (I used vegetable)
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 Tbsp. grated orange peel (I didn’t add this)
• 3 Tsp. vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 Tsp. salt
• 1 Tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 Tsp. baking powder
• 2 Tsp. cinnamon (best part!)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 325 F. Grease 2 small bread loaf pans (4.5 in x 9.75 in) or muffin tins or whatever you happen to have on hand.
2. Mix the ingredients in the following order: Eggs, oil, sugar, zucchini, orange peel, vanilla, flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, then cinnamon.
3. Bake at 325 F for 50 min. or until done (until a fork inserted in the middle comes out clean. the bread will look more dry and not so soupy).

Many zucchini bread recipes I’ve seen also include nuts or raisins. You could 1/4 cup of either of these if you wanted. Most of the people I get to eat my baked goods don’t like nuts, so I don’t add them very often. I do love nuts, though. If you live alone like me you can freeze the left overs if you want.