3 eggs
2-1/4 C. sugar
2 C. shredded zucchini*
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 C. chopped nuts
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 C. oil
3 C. flour
4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix together the eggs, oil, and zucchini. In a separate bowl, whisk together** all of the dry ingredients except the nuts. Combine the two mixtures, then fold in the nuts***. Grease and flour two loaf pans. Pour the batter equally into the two pans and bake for one hour or until they pass the toothpick test****. Let cool before slicing. Good with butter on top!
_________
"Good with butter on top!" Once I got to four stars, I just gave up. I think everything is good with butter on top, especially all things bread.
****"The toothpick test" is what I call that part of the recipe that goes "until a toothpick inserted [in the middle] comes out clean." Excuse me, but what middle, what is the definition of "clean", and why is this important? All questions I used to ask myself when I was a less-experienced baker. So I'm going to answer them for you.
1) "In the middle": in all honesty, the best test is to poke the baked item in two or three places, one of which should be the middle, or the thickest part, whichever is thicker.
2) "the definition of clean": depends on your baked good. For example, since this a fairly moist sweet bread, I would consider "toothpick emerges with a few moist crumbs sticking to it" to indicate doneness. For a full-on cake (like a yellow cake or pound cake) I would hold out until the toothpick came out with nothing on it. If at any time gooey stuff, even gooey crumbs, are apparent on your toothpick, put that bad boy back in the oven and try again in a few minutes. While we're on the subject, unless you want to heat the whole house with your oven, get you some hot pads, take the baking pan fully out of the oven and close the oven door while you're checking it. This prevents additional baking time while the oven regains all the heat lost while you crouched in front of the oven door doing the toothpick test. (It goes without saying...or does it?...that you then set your baking dish on some other heat resistant surface like the stovetop after closing the oven but before trying to stick a toothpick in it.) Incidentally, spellcheck wanted me to replace "stovetop" with "stevedore." I don't think a stevedore would appreciate a hot baking dish being set on top of him, and since he's a stevedore he, like a mule (according to my uncle) is big enough to do something about it.
3) This is important because otherwise you will have pancake batter on your plate instead of a luscious fully-cooked baked good when you go to cut it.
***"Fold in the nuts": saving the nuts for last ensures that they are fully incorporated, and also prevents them sinking to the bottom of your bread while it bakes.
**Some people bother to sift things with an actual sifter. Some recipes call for "thus and such amount sifted ingredient" which is a crafty way of saying "first sift this and get [ingredient] all over your countertop, then try to measure fairy dust, then repeat when you only have half as much as you need." I avoid those recipes. This recipe calls for the amount you need to dump out of the flour jar into the bowl. Then use a wire whisk (like you use for scrambled eggs) and whisk all the dry stuff with the whisk. It fluffs up your dry ingredients so your bread will be light and causes that much less heartache in he kitchen. It's neater, too.
*Now the zucchini, on the other hand...shred you some zucchini. If you happen to have a garden, rejoice in the amount of whole zucchinis you need to make up 2 cups of shredded zucchini.
2-1/4 C. sugar
2 C. shredded zucchini*
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 C. chopped nuts
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 C. oil
3 C. flour
4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
Preheat the oven to 350F. Mix together the eggs, oil, and zucchini. In a separate bowl, whisk together** all of the dry ingredients except the nuts. Combine the two mixtures, then fold in the nuts***. Grease and flour two loaf pans. Pour the batter equally into the two pans and bake for one hour or until they pass the toothpick test****. Let cool before slicing. Good with butter on top!
_________
"Good with butter on top!" Once I got to four stars, I just gave up. I think everything is good with butter on top, especially all things bread.
****"The toothpick test" is what I call that part of the recipe that goes "until a toothpick inserted [in the middle] comes out clean." Excuse me, but what middle, what is the definition of "clean", and why is this important? All questions I used to ask myself when I was a less-experienced baker. So I'm going to answer them for you.
1) "In the middle": in all honesty, the best test is to poke the baked item in two or three places, one of which should be the middle, or the thickest part, whichever is thicker.
2) "the definition of clean": depends on your baked good. For example, since this a fairly moist sweet bread, I would consider "toothpick emerges with a few moist crumbs sticking to it" to indicate doneness. For a full-on cake (like a yellow cake or pound cake) I would hold out until the toothpick came out with nothing on it. If at any time gooey stuff, even gooey crumbs, are apparent on your toothpick, put that bad boy back in the oven and try again in a few minutes. While we're on the subject, unless you want to heat the whole house with your oven, get you some hot pads, take the baking pan fully out of the oven and close the oven door while you're checking it. This prevents additional baking time while the oven regains all the heat lost while you crouched in front of the oven door doing the toothpick test. (It goes without saying...or does it?...that you then set your baking dish on some other heat resistant surface like the stovetop after closing the oven but before trying to stick a toothpick in it.) Incidentally, spellcheck wanted me to replace "stovetop" with "stevedore." I don't think a stevedore would appreciate a hot baking dish being set on top of him, and since he's a stevedore he, like a mule (according to my uncle) is big enough to do something about it.
3) This is important because otherwise you will have pancake batter on your plate instead of a luscious fully-cooked baked good when you go to cut it.
***"Fold in the nuts": saving the nuts for last ensures that they are fully incorporated, and also prevents them sinking to the bottom of your bread while it bakes.
**Some people bother to sift things with an actual sifter. Some recipes call for "thus and such amount sifted ingredient" which is a crafty way of saying "first sift this and get [ingredient] all over your countertop, then try to measure fairy dust, then repeat when you only have half as much as you need." I avoid those recipes. This recipe calls for the amount you need to dump out of the flour jar into the bowl. Then use a wire whisk (like you use for scrambled eggs) and whisk all the dry stuff with the whisk. It fluffs up your dry ingredients so your bread will be light and causes that much less heartache in he kitchen. It's neater, too.
*Now the zucchini, on the other hand...shred you some zucchini. If you happen to have a garden, rejoice in the amount of whole zucchinis you need to make up 2 cups of shredded zucchini.
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