Cinnamon Zucchini Bread

A simple homemade cinnamon zucchini bread for summer days!

 

Summer is for garden treasures, and one of my very favorites is zucchini - because I can bake with it! While it's delicious for sautéing up as a dinner side, I would much rather be grating it for a dessert of sorts. So when my friend offered up her garden-fresh zucchini, you know I gladly obliged to take her abundance. Since, I have whipped up two chocolate zucchini cakes with a coffee drizzle (it's my favorite to make with zucchini), and decided yesterday to see if I could make a bread with it.

Falling back on my banana bread and pumpkin bread recipes, I mixed up the ingredients to create a cinnamon zucchini loaf. If you love a bread that is just sweet, but no overly sweet, with a warm flavor (from the cinnamon and dash of cloves), this is for you. It would pair nicely with a cup of coffee!

And to seal the deal, even my girls thought this was delicious. That's quite a high compliment for a dessert full of a vegetable and without chocolate involved!

• What You'll Need
• 1 stick of salted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 TSP vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups grated zucchini
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 TSP baking soda
• 1/2 TSP salt
• 2 TSP cinnamon
• 1/4 TSP cloves

• What You'll Do
• Preheat the oven to 350°.
• Grate your zucchini into a bowl, and set aside.
• Cream the butter and sugar together.
• Mix in the vanilla and the eggs. Then stir in the Greek yogurt.
• In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. Stir to mix. 
• Add the dry mixture into the wet mixture bowl. Stir until everything is combined. 
• Squeeze the grated zucchini to rid of excess water. Then add it to the batter, folding it in until it's evenly dispersed. 
• Pour the batter into a prepared loaf pan - 9" x 5" is a preferred size - (use cooking spray to prepare pan or line with parchment paper).
• Bake for 60-70 minutes, until an inserted knife comes out clean. 
• Let cool for about 20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to complete the cooling process.
• Eat a slice right after transfer if you like! Enjoy!