Zucchini Bread

Ok, so there were a ton of zucchinis in my CSA box this week, 11 to be exact.  It's a veggie that I really enjoy, but I've never had so many at once.  2 of the zucchinis ended up here, 2 of them went to Seth, leaving another 7 to use.  So, I decided to try my hand at zucchini bread.  The best part of doing a recipe like this is that I tend to keep all the necessary ingredients on hand, so it's an easy thing to do on the fly.  The recipe I found seemed to have a lot of sugar, so I did dial it down a bit. Since the bread still tastes a bit too sweet, I should have reduced it a bit more.  I'd suggest 3/4-1 cup sugar total, depending on your taste (I don't have much of a sweet tooth).  The texture and flavor of this bread is absolutely phenomenal.  Definitely worth doing again.

Adapted from the recipe in this cookbook: http://www.amazon.com/The-Cooks-Country-Cookbook-Reimagined/dp/1933615346

Ingredients

1 lb zucchini (I weighed mine, and it was 3 small zucchinis)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
2 large eggs
1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Method

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Grease an 8" loaf pan with extra unsalted butter.


2.  Remove tops of the zucchini, slice lengthwise, and scoop out seeds.  Coarsely grate the zucchini into a bowl.  Pour the grated zucchini into a clean tea towel and squeeze out as much liquid as possible, then discard the liquid.


3.  Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and sugar in a large bowl.


4.  Mix the yogurt, eggs, lemon juice, and butter in a separate bowl.  Stir in the zucchini.


5.  Gently mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.


6.  Using a plastic spatula, transfer the batter to the loaf pan.


7.  Bake at 375 degrees for about 55 minutes.  The bread is ready when a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out with a few crumbs attached.


8.  Remove from oven and wait at least 10 minutes before taking the bread out from the pan.  Wait at least 1 hour before serving.  Enjoy!