Saturday, August 7, 2021

Your BONUS zucchini recipe 😍

Ambitious Kitchen

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Happy weekend, AK fam!

I hope you all loved AK Zucchini Week 2021 as much as I loved creating and sharing all of these delicious recipes. If you haven't yet, you can still get your FREE Zucchini E-Book by clicking here!

Good news: there's still time to enter our amazing giveaway! We'll be selecting 2 lucky members of the AK community to win an Our Place Always Pan in the color of their choosing. Get all of the giveaway details on this page, and keep making & sharing your zucchini creations on social through Tuesday, 8/10!

Get all of our zucchini recipes here to make this weekend and through Tuesday!

Finally, the moment we've all been waiting for...it's time to share your BONUS zucchini recipe! Because you're a wonderful AK email subscriber, you're getting this recipe exclusively before it even hits the blog. It's perfect for summer-into-fall and is filled with amazing flavor. Make it, share it, love and enjoy!

Your BONUS zucchini recipe

Apple Zucchini Spice Loaf

Ingredients

Wet ingredients:

1 cup shredded zucchini (from 1 medium zucchini)

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 eggs

1/2 cup pure maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup virgin coconut oil, melted and cooled (melted butter would also work)

Dry ingredients:

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour (or sub gf all purpose flour)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix-ins:

1 medium apple, peeled, cored and roughly chopped in 1/4 inch pieces (about 1 cup chopped apple)

1/3 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, if desired

For the cream cheese glaze:

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To garnish:

Extra chopped pecans

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 1/4 x 4 1/2 inch pan with parchment paper and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

2. First, measure out 1 heaping cup of shredded zucchini, then place shredded zucchini in a paper towel, clean dish towel or cheesecloth and squeeze out ALL of the moisture/water. This is very important!

3. Add shredded zucchini, applesauce, eggs, maple syrup and vanilla extract to a large bowl and mix well to combine. Next, add in the melted coconut oil and mix again until well combined.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, ginger, nutmeg and salt. Mix together with a wooden spoon until well combined. Fold in pecans and chopped apples.

5. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a tester comes out clean or with just a few crumbs attached. Mine took an hour, but this will vary based on your oven.

6. Remove from the oven and place the pan on a wire rack to cool for 15 minutes, then remove bread from the pan and place on a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

7. To make cinnamon cream cheese frosting: beat cream cheese, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and milk together on medium speed for a minute or until smooth. If you want a warm glaze, you can warm it in the microwave in 10-20 second intervals until warm. Pour or spread over cooled bread. Sprinkle chopped pecans. Cut into 10-12 slices and enjoy!

Notes

To make gluten free: I think this bread would be okay with a gluten free all purpose flour.

To make nut free: leave out the pecans.

To make dairy free: use a vegan butter stick such as Earth Balance and a vegan cream cheese for the frosting.

Have a happy, healthy weekend!

xo,

Monique