All around social media these past several weeks I have seen friends dealing with sub-zero temperatures and blizzard-like conditions. So, I thought this week I would put a little summer on your plate by sharing one of my favorite summer recipes, Diary-free Zucchini Bread.
I remember my mom making zucchini bread and it always filled the house with such nutty, spicy aromas. Though we didn't usually grow zucchini ourselves, it seemed to be in abundance as our neighbors had a huge garden and frequently supplied us with their overage. Mom would make zucchini bread sandwiches glued together with cream cheese. After a couple of hours in the swimming pool, those were sure some welcome fuel.
Now that I have my own garden and no shortage of zucchini either, I freeze it shredded to pull out whenever I am craving this bread. I have tweaked my recipe over the years but landed on one that is made with non-dairy milk, lots of spices, and loaded up with chopped walnuts.
A couple of notes about quick bread:
1 - Invest in a really good loaf pan. I recently upgraded all my loaf pans to Williams-Sonoma Goldtouch Prononstick and it has made such a difference in the evenness of what I am baking. Plus they don't stick and are dishwasher safe for easy clean-up.
2 - Quick breads are pretty forgiving so long as you include enough of a leveling agent for them to rise and keep a good balance of wet and dry ingredients. Don't be afraid to play around with your fruits and veggies and your spices. Try another kind of squash or substitute apple sauce or pineapple. This is how great new recipes are born.
Dairy-free Zucchini Bread
Equipment
- 1 4 x 9 inch loaf pan
- 1 Whisk
- 1 flexible spatchula
Ingredients
- 1 ½ c. granulated sugar
- ⅓ c. brown sugar
- ¾ c. sunflower oil plus a T. for greasing the pan
- ⅓ c. almond or oat milk low fat regular milk would work fine too
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups flour
- ¾ t. baking powder
- ¾ t. baking soda
- ½ t. salt
- 1 ½ t. cinnamon
- ½ t. ground cloves
- ½ t. ground allspice
- ½ t. Nutmeg
- 1 ½-2 c. finely chopped zucchini
- ¾ cups walnut pieces optional
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Rub some sunflower oil on a paper towel and lightly grease a 4 x 9 inch loaf pan and set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the sugars, oil, eggs, and milk to thoroughly combine.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, and spices. Whisk together to evenly distribute. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and stir till just combined. Carefully, fold in the zucchini and walnuts if using.
- Pour the batter into the greased loaf pan using a flexible spatula to get all of it. Gently tap the pan on the counter to remove any air bubbles and if needed smooth any remaining lumps on the top.
- Bake for approximately one hour in the lower third of your oven or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. If the top starts to get too brown, lay a loose sheet of aluminum foil over it for the last bit of cooking time. When the bread is cooked, remove it from the oven and onto a cooling rack. Gently run a sharp knife around all four sides of the loaf pan. Let it cool for about 10 minutes and then invert it to cool completely out of the pan on the cooling rack.
Leave a Reply