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Buttery Zucchini Bread with Walnuts

By Britney Breaks Bread [1]

I don’t really eat zucchini bread frequently. It’s not really my thing, I’ve always found it to be “blah”. In fact, the last time I can recall eating zucchini bread, I was with my family at this place in New Jersey called “The Pub”. They had really good zucchini bread but again, it just wasn’t really my stitch. Fast forward, I met a really cool lady on Instagram recently named Gia (@houseshoehostess), who has coined herself as my “instagram mother”. We bonded over our cooking styles, recipes, memes, and of course – food! One day, she was telling me that she learned to cook from her grandmother and that her grandmother would make the most delicious zucchini bread. She asked if I could try to recreate this bread. Having never had her grandmother’s cooking, nor really being a fan of zucchini bread, I of course accepted the challenge. With that came a long line of questioning – “What did it taste like?”, “Did she add coconut and chocolate to it?”, “Were there nuts in her recipe?”, “What about ginger and cinnamon, etc?” – we must have talked about this cake for a good 20 minutes.

My first attempt at making a zucchini bread that I thought was good came out to be just OK. I topped it with salted honey and walnuts – it was good … but just good, not great. So I decided to hold off on posting it. Today, another person commented on the picture that I posted of my first attempt asking me for the recipe and frankly… I don’t remember what I did the first time so I started from scratch again – however, this time, I wanted it to be perfect. One thing that I do remember from my first attempt is that it was too much ginger and cinnamon, so I decided to lessen the spices and swap the honey for maple syrup.

As you know, I received a package from Runamok Maple last weekend and one of the maple syrup flavors that I LOVED was the cinnamon and vanilla maple syrup. My entire family enjoyed this flavor when they were visiting last weekend, it was unanimous. So I decided to use what was left of the maple syrup in this recipe – 3 tbsps to be exact – which truly added to the richness of the bread. When all was said and done, the zucchini bread had a lovely crunch to the outer shell and was super moist and dense on the inside. This recipe is ideal with a cup of coffee and a bit of butter and/or jelly … or simply by itself. Gigi, I hope that this recipe tastes like your Grandmother’s! It is exactly as you described and I cannot wait for you to try this!

Ingredients

2 cups flour, sifted

1/2 tsp fresh nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 1/2 sticks of butter

1/2 cup whole milk

3 tbsps Runamok Cinnamon and Vanilla Maple Syrup

2 tbsps sour cream

1 1/2 cup shredded zucchini (about 1 large zucchini)

1/2 cup walnuts, optional

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk – flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, baking soda, sugar, and brown sugar.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine all of the wet ingredients – eggs, vanilla extract, maple syrup, coconut oil, butter, milk, and sour cream.
  4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and fold them together with a rubber/silicone spatula. Once all of the ingredients are mixed and batter is smooth, add in shredded zucchini and nuts.
  5. Coat a 9×5 pan with oil and flour and add batter to the pan. Cook for about 1 hour, until a toothpick comes out clean.
  6. Eat 🙂