Bake Your Bread (And Eat It Too!)

While cupcakes and brownies will certainly never lose their charm, we love the all-purpose deliciousness of a good bread (hey! it’s breakfast, dessert, and snack – all in one!).

Which is why we’re delighted by Joy the Baker’s list of ten quick bread recipes – including one for Honey Cranberry Cornmeal Quick Bread (which we’ve tried – it’s “tartily scrumptious”) and, for those of you with New Year’s Resolutions to uphold, a Low Fat Oatmeal Banana Bread.

But we’re especially intrigued by this recipe for Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread – it sounds like the perfect blend of spicy, savory, and sweet:

Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread

adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine,  November 1992

2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat flour)]

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves (the nutmeg and the cloves are optional, you’ll just have a less spicy bread)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup brown sugar)

3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/2 cup oil and 1/4 cup apple sauce.  Less fat.)

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup grated zucchini

1 1/2 cup peeled and grated sweet potato

1 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour a 9×5×3- inch loaf pan and set aside.  Sift the first 7 ingredients into a medium sized bowl.  In a separate, large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla extract.  Mix in the zucchini and sweet potato.  Add the dry ingredients and stir just to combine.  Fold in the nuts and cranberries and stir well.

Transfer batter to prepared pan.  Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Cool bread in pan on a rack for 15 minutes.  Loosen the edges of the bread with a butter knife and turn out on a rack to cool completely.  Can be prepared 1 day in advance.  Wrap in foil and keep at room temperature.

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