My Morning Chocolate

This healthy zucchini bread is moist and subtly spicy.

I feel more confident as a baker than a cook.

Baking, for me, is happiness and accomplishment:  the taste of fresh dough before it goes in the oven, all the more delicious if it contains chocolate chips; the smell of chocolate and spices and sugar baking; the anticipation of warm, fresh desserts, which start as simple ingredients like flour and eggs but become something highly addictive and craveable – these are the thoughts that make me stop whatever I’m doing to mix together a batch of cookies or cake or bread.

If there is nothing sweet in my house – which never happens so this is hypothetical – I cannot focus.  I need to stop what I am doing and bake something.

Therefore, it seems appropriate that I turn my forearm-sized zucchini – which has larger seeds, tougher flesh, and a less sweet flavor, according to Wikipedia – into moist, spicy zucchini bread.  I look at several recipes, but feel I have made enough changes to call this healthy version of zucchini bread my own.

Ingredients
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour*
2 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
4 tsp. cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
½ cup canola oil
½ cup applesauce
2/3 cup agave nectar
½ cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 cups grated zucchini
2 mashed bananas**
½ cup nuts (I used almonds, toasted in a pan and roughly chopped)

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine the whole-wheat pastry flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a bowl; set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the canola oil, applesauce, agave nectar, and white sugar together. Add the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the zucchini and mashed banana. At this point, your mixture will be very moist.

Add the flour mixture, 1/3 at a time, to the wet mixture, beating well after each addition. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan or small ramekins (I have enough batter for one loaf pan and two ramekins).

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes if using small ramekins, and 60 to 70 minutes if using a loaf pan. Stick a toothpick or fork in the middle to make sure the bread is cooked through; if not, bake longer.  Cool, cut, and enjoy!

Notes

* If you are not a fan of wheat, don’t be scared of the whole-wheat pastry flour used in the recipe. It’s not overwhelming. My mom, a very picky eater who has problems with hundreds of textures and tastes including wheat, loved this bread.

** I also threw in two overripe bananas because I didn’t want them to go to waste. But the bread will still be delicious if they are omitted from your recipe.