Midnight Baking...

The garden has produced some lovely zucchini this summer. Some of them are as long as my forearm and are bigger around. (It's true that I have skinny arms, but this shouldn't diminish the ample girth of my beautiful zucchinis! They are whoppers!) I've braised, broiled, boiled, blanched, roasted, sauteed, stir-fried and even stuffed them. But I haven't made zucchini bread yet. That is, until now.

Unfortunately, my kitchen saw a casualty this evening while preparing the zucchini bread. My beloved hand-mixer beat its last egg. Apparently the recipe I used is a "spatula only" recipe, because at one point the batter got so thick and gummy that the beaters refused to spin. And with a spark and smelly black smoke, that was the end of Sir Mix-a-lot. Luckily it wasn't a fancy brand and can be inexpensively and easily replaced.

The bread itself turned out wonderfully! I did make a few changes to the recipe. Instead of using grated un-peeled zucchini, I used peeled zucchini. (I had it in the fridge and didn't want it to go to waste.) My loaves came out a little lighter in color than they normally would have been if the skins had been included. I was also running low on walnuts, so I substituted half the portion with toasted pecans. The difference is subtle, but pleasant. I also added some golden raisins and sweetened coconut flakes. These two additions remind me of the holiday loaves my mom used to bake when we were little. She'd turn the kitchen into a factory and bake dozens of loaves. We'd eat it for breakfast, carry it in our lunches, have it as an after-school snack, eat it for dessert AND we'd spread the love by giving it away as gifts. I remember those aluminum foil-covered bricks fondly. I found the consistency of my loaves nice and dense (the way I like them), while maintaining a satisfying moistness. I can't wait to toast this in the morning for breakfast and smear some butter and cream cheese all over the hearty slices.