Almond Zucchini Bread For The Win

You know when you just randomly have two zucchinis in your fridge and you don't know what to do with them. You think to yourself, what am I going to do with just two zucchinis? The answer should always be make zucchini bread. Zucchini is just a vegetable I've never really liked. My Grandma and Mother would always sauté these with yellow squash and onions, gross! As an adult, I normally just thinly slice zucchini and add it in my lasagna. The taste is masked in the lasagna. Oh, and I just bought these cute little white ceramic loaf pans so I knew I was going to make some little loafs. When I was baking this I realized I was out of vanilla extract. I did have almond extract and almond slivers, thats why this turned out to be almond zucchini bread. Overall the flavors mixed well together. If you are trying this recipe and have never had zucchini bread, just think of the texture being like a banana bread. As far as the zucchini in the bread, it doesn't take like a random vegetable bread, think carrot cake, you don't actually taste carrots. I think the bread tasted amazing, and everyone loved it. Little loaves make great gifts and people love things they can eat. Check out how cute they look.

Fresh baked zucchini bread

So here's what you will need

Almond Zucchini Bread

• 3 cups of all purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 grated zucchinis
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon of allspice
• 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3 teaspoons of almond extract
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds (optional)

First grate those two zucchinis and place the grated zucchinis in a bowl, then just set that aside

Shred that zucchini

Grease and flour, or spray with cooking spray two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat your oven to 325F. I used 4 mini loaf pans and this recipe filled them so I would say this recipe will make 2 loaves or four mini loaves. You can also buy those little aluminum disposable loaf pans too. 

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg together in a bowl. Give your dry ingredients a little stir to just make sure everything is sifted together.

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2. Now beat your eggs, oil, almond extract, and sugar together in a large bowl.
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5.  Add your sifted dry ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well.
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2. Your mixture will be very thick and dry, so switch to a wooden spoon, or spatula and mix till you don't see any dry remnants. ( to me it will look like a cookie dough). This dough will loosen up when you add in the zucchini. 
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4. Hey before you put the zucchini in your dough, give it a little squeeze in your hand. Look at how much liquid was left in the bowl.
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7. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. 
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9. Pour batter into prepared pans. *****don't fill your pans up all the way, just go for about 2/3 full****
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11. Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. 
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13. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.
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So now you are done, the bread is amazing for breakfast, an afternoon snack, or dessert. I just dusted the top with powdered sugar because I think it makes things look pretty and also adds a little extra sweetness. Oh also don't forget you can add whatever you want in here, different nuts, chocolate chips. Go crazy guys.