If you’re like me, you have several zucchini bread recipes in your recipe box. The older recipes include a lot of oil, and many of the newer ones substitute some applesauce or other ingredients to reduce the fat content. But most of them are basically similar, and all of them are good.
One of my friends from high school, Kim V., recently shared her recipe for Zucchini Bread with me. I loved that it included a streusel topping – I LOVE streusel toppings! – so I decided to share it.
My taste testers included a few teenage boys and one of my kids’ high school language arts teachers. They raved about it. That is a good measure of success. I love feeding teenage boys and teachers.
Zucchini Bread ingredients. Preheat your oven to 350° F. Prepare two loaf pans by either greasing and flouring or coating well with cooking spray.
I used the zucchini from my garden for this bread. I had exactly the amount of zucchini that I needed to make the 3 cups required by this recipe. If you run short, however, you can always use grated carrots to get to the quantity necessary. So, if you’re short a part of a cup, you don’t have to go buy another zucchini, just use what you have in the frig.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
I dump the dry ingredients into a bowl and “sift” using a whisk.
In the large bowl of your mixer, blend the eggs, vanilla, oil, applesauce, and sugar until frothy.
Make sure that you scrape down the sides of the bowl if necessary, and that all of the wet ingredients are well combined before adding the dry ingredients. When making muffins and quick breads, you do not want to over beat when adding the dry ingredients so it’s essential to make sure that the wet ingredients are well blended prior to adding the dry ingredients.
Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients, and stir gently just until combined.
Gently stir in the grated zucchini.
Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared loaf pans.
Streusel topping ingredients.
Combine the streusel ingredients in a small bowl.
Divide the streusel topping evenly over the batter in the two loaf pans.
Bake for 60 to 75 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of the loaves comes out clean. Allow the bread to cool, and remove carefully from the loaf pans.
Slice and serve to family and friends, random teenagers, and teachers, too.
This zucchini bread is dense, moist, and not overly sweet. The topping adds a nice texture and crunch. It’s a little different twist on your average zucchini bread recipe. You should add this recipe to your collection today! Yummy.
Kim V.’s Zucchini Bread Makes 2 loaves To make the batter: To make the streusel topping: Preheat oven to 350° F. Generously grease and flour two loaf pans or coat with cooking spray. In a medium sized bowl, sift together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside. In the large bowl 0f a mixer, beat on medium speed the applesauce, oil, eggs, sugar, and vanilla until well blended and frothy. Gently stir in the dry ingredients just until blended. Gently stir in the grated zucchini. Divide the batter evenly into the two prepared loaf pans. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour and the sugar. Stir in the pecans. Add the melted butter and mix together. Divide evenly over the batter in the loaf pans. Bake in a preheated oven for 60 to 75 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean. Allow to cool on a cooling rack for 10 to 20 minutes. Remove from pans to continue cooling completely. Slice and serve.
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup applesauce
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
3 tsp vanilla
2 cups sugar
3 cups grated zucchini
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter, melted
1 cup chopped pecans
What a nice posting Theresa. Whenever I make a “bread” that requires oil, I usually half the oil and substitute applesauce for the other half. I usually buy the inexpensive applesauce for this purpose. I also grate any zuccini I have left over during summer, put in a Ziploc bag and freeze for use during the remainder of the year. Good idea to use those extra carrots in the fridge……no one is the wiser.
Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing!
I am getting ready to make this bread. How much vanilla? It says to add vanilla with the oil, etc. Also does not say anthing about the 2 cups of sugar. I would guess you add that with the oil, etc.
Thanks for catching those errors. I updated the recipe to include the 3 tsp of vanilla. Yes, the sugar gets added with the oil. I had it in the explanation but not in the recipe description. Let me know what you think!
I looked up my zucchini recipe and it called for 2 tsp vanilla, so that is what I did. It was still really good. I will make it again with 3 tsp next time. We all liked the crumb topping. thanks!!
I love the streusel topping! That’s what made this one different.
I’m sure it was fine. I’ve been noticing that many recipes are adding more vanilla.