Quick breads make nice, simple gifts around Christmas time, and this bread is especially good for the holidays, with its flecks of red and green. I like to bake these as mini loaves, then for a cute presentation, put a wrapped loaf inside a ceramic mini-loaf pan and tie with some ribbon. Another bonus to this recipe is that you can use zucchini from your garden that you shredded then froze, and also cranberries bought on sale at Thanksgiving, which also freeze nicely.
Cranberry Zucchini Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour (I used half unbleached white, and half white whole wheat)
2 cups sugar (I reduced this by about 1/4 cup; could probably reduce even more)
2 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup vegetable oil (I replaced about 1/4 cup oil with water)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup chopped fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans, which is what I used)
In a large bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In another bowl, beat eggs; add zucchini, oil and vanilla. Stir into dry ingredients just until blended. Fold in the cranberries and nuts. Pour into two greased and floured 9x5x3 loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks.
Instead of large loaf pans, this recipe can also make 4 mini-loaves and 6 muffins.
This post is linked to:
Ultimate Recipe Swap
Finer Things Friday
Grocery Cart Challenge
Homemade Holidays Recipe Swap
