Zucchini Bread

I love this bread. I love it a lot. If you've never had a zucchini bread before and you don't like zucchini, please don't be scared off. You wouldn't even know it was there if I didn't tell you, trust me. It just makes the bread moist and wonderful.

I got this recipe from my mother-in-law, and it is so, so, so delicious. It's great for breakfast. Or for desert. Or for eating between meals. Or for sneaking a piece when your husband's not home so that you don't have to cut him one to be equal.

Make it and you won't regret it.

Your ingredients: Eggs, Oil, Baking Powder, Baking Soda, Cinnamon, Zucchini, Flour, Sugar, Vanilla, Brown Sugar, and Salt

First, puree your zucchini. You need about 2 cups pureed zucchini. I wound up only using 3 of those small ones, if it helps you. Man, get a food processor if you can. This is the first time I've made this bread since we trashed our crappy blender, and this food processor made this bread a whole lot quicker and less messy to make.

Then, whisk together your "wet" ingredients- eggs, oil, vanilla, zucchini, sugar, and brown sugar.

Add in your dry ingredients- mix it really well, don't let any pockets of flour hide out on you. I know it looks green. You're looking at this, saying- "How could this bread possibly be sweet??" Trust me. Please.

Then pour it into 2 loaf pans and pop it in the oven for about an hour.

Then eat this bread and thank me. And my mother-in-law. And the underappreciated zucchini.


Zucchini Bread
From my wonderful mother-in-law
Makes 2 loaves
3 eggs
1 cup oil
2 cups pureed zucchini
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups white sugar
2 cups brown sugar
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 325°.

Puree zucchini in a food processor or blender. Mix together eggs, oil, brown sugar, white sugar, zucchini and vanilla.

Sift dry ingredients in and fold lightly into the batter. Pour into 2 loaf pans and bake for an hour, until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean

You can also make muffins with this recipe- it makes 2 1/2 dozen, bake them for 15 minutes.

Brown Butter Banana Strawberry Bread

Dear Joy the Baker, 

I saw this bread and I literally had to make it the next day. You know what the best part is? The only extra thing I had to buy was the bananas! Also, I would love for our blogs to be friends, or at least maybe your blog could be my blog's mentor.

Also, I think you're really awesome.

Love, Something Sweet

Surprise! Apparently I can't stop at baking just once during the week, it's now become a compulsion that I have to indulge mid-week as well! Lucky for you, because this bread is a gift from heaven. Or, a gift from Joy the Baker.

These pictures make me wish I could always bake in the daytime- natural light makes for such prettier photographs. Ah, well. Paying bills means I have to work instead of bake during the day.

Your ingredients- which apparently I can never get right for the photo. I realized I didn't need baking powder, and I should have put brown sugar in the picture instead of regular sugar. But just... imagine that it's correct.

First, grease up your loaf pan. (I'm sorry. You didn't need a picture of that. But the lighting was so nice I literally took pictures of everything. Be glad there's not pictures showing you how to open a box of brown sugar, or how to measure out a cup of flour.)

Next, whisk together your dry ingredients: flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.


In a seperate bowl, mix together your eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk (or yogurt, but I used buttermilk). Once it's combined, add your mashed banana.

 Then add in your strawberries- you can dice them up a little finer than me if you want, but my bread didn't suffer for my laziness.

Next, glop it all into your loaf pan and put your finely sliced strawberries on top. Then, put it in the oven and get ready for your kitchen to smell WONDERFUL for about an hour.

Then, take it out and feast, my friend. Feast.

Browned Butter Strawberry Banana Bread
Taken (with love and the utmost respect) from Joy the Baker
6 oz. butter (for me that was 1 1/2 sticks, if you're not weigh-er)
2 cups flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk
3 medium bananas, mashed
1/2 cup diced strawberries, plus a few thin slices for topping

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9x5 loaf pan.

To brown butter, melt in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. The butter will pop and foam as it melts. Once it stops doing that, it will start to brown. Stir it a little so it doesn't burn. Once it starts to smell nutty, take it off the heat and pour it into a small bowl to cool.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

In a seperate medium bowl, mix together the eggs, vanilla, and buttermilk. Once they're combined, whisk in the mushed bananas. When your butter is cool, whisk it in too.

Dump the wet ingredients all at once into your flour mixture and fold together, getting all the flour pockets. Try not to overmix. Fold the strawberries in until just combined. Pour mixture into the loaf pan and top with your thin strawberry slices.

Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour until a toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy!