Z is For Zucchini

Janet here: When I first started cooking for myself, I was a hippy of sorts (with the exception of Nixon and his cronies, just about everyone was in those days). Anyway, no one was really too surprised when I became a vegetarian at 24, a lifestyle choice I have followed ever since with only occasional lapses into baconland. ("Absolutely you should order bacon with those eggs," I would tell my children. They quickly caught on that sharing was the next step.)

Anyway the Moosewood cookbooks were my bible in those early days, and zucchini bread was one of my first breads that were not of the sandwich variety. (Although I did that too; more on that another day.) I almost feel as if zucchini bread is a rite of baking passage for beginning cooks and bakers. It feels exotic on some level — grated vegetables in a bread? How foreign! — and yet it's so luscious. Ditto with carrot cake, right?

This recipe is a particular favorite. The applesauce guarantees this is moist without a lot of the extra calories something like buttermilk or sour cream might add, while the molasses give it a bit of zip. Enjoy!


Zucchini Bread
makes one loaf

ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking power
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup applesauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 cup grated zucchini
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

method
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center once you've mixed them up. Add the wet ingredients and stir until well-blended. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake 1 hour.