’Tis the season for random boxes left outside church doors, with big FREE signs on them, and overflowing with 5 and 6 pound crook-necked zucchini. I am the grateful recipient of one said zucchini as I failed to plant any myself this year.

Now, zucchini should be about a pound (at most) when harvested, or they get pithy and the flavor is not as good. The seeds get to be like pumpkins and the meat gets a weird spongey texture. Not so good to cook with…

BUT!

A huge zucchini still makes a mighty fine bread.

 

This is an original recipe I created to retain the easily lost flavor of zucchini, but still make a sweet morning bread that rocks a cup of coffee like no one’s business. I included pecans and figs to make a hearty texture, and some cardamom and brown sugar to deepen the tastes.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound zucchini (trimmed)
• 2 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon allspice
• ¾ teaspoon cardamom (not pictured)
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ½ Tablespoon honey
• 1/8 cup milk (not pictured)
• 1/8 cup sour cream
• 2 eggs
• 6 Tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• ½ cup pecans
• ¾ cup Smyrna figs

 

Preheat your oven to 350°

Grease a 8 ½” x 4 ½”, or 9 ½” x 3 ½” loaf pan and set aside.

Shred the zucchini by quartering the zucchini lengthwise, and grating it crosswise. I cheat and use a grater attachment on a food processor. Time is money.

Lay a paper towel in the bottom of a colander. Put the zucchini on top and press it down with another paper towel on top. Keep doing this until you get most of the water out. It will still feel wet, which is good, but not weeping. Set it aside.

Toast your pecans. Lay the whole pecans on a cookie sheet and bake for 5 minutes at 350° and then broil at 500° (in the middle of the oven) for two minutes. Watch them, they burn quickly. Then set them aside to cool.

Whisk your flour, soda, powder, salt, cinnamon, allspice, and cardamom in a medium bowl.

In your mixing bowl, combine your sugars, melted butter, eggs, milk, sour cream and honey.

and mix until they’re thoroughly combined.

Gently fold in the flour mixture and the zucchini to the egg mixture. Don’t over mix this, just fold.

Chop your figs and nuts and fold those in.

Scrape the batter into your pan

and bake at 350° for an hour. Check it by inserting a metal skewer (or a knife) after baking. It should come out clean or with a few crumbs. If the batter is still wet, give it another 10 minutes and then check it every 2 minutes thereafter.

This is SO GOOD! Thank you church ladies, for your overgrown, wayward zucchini, thank you.

 

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