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Zucchini, Carrot & Coconut Bread

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Zucchini, Carrot & Coconut Bread

Roberta Reynolds
My first impulse when confronted with a frightening population of zucchini from our garden was to bake volumes of zucchini bread. But let’s face it: zucchini bread in and of itself can be a little bit of a snoozer, if you catch my drift. We needed some more flavor to jazz up the old traditional bread, so added some grated carrot and a generous amount of coconut. Now we’re in business!! This recipe makes two loaves, because to me if you go to all the effort to do the baking, you might as well have an extra loaf stashed in the freezer for later.
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Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings 2 loaves

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 ½ cups grated zucchini
  • 1 ½ cups grated carrot
  • 2 cups sweetened grated coconut
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ cup canola oil
  • ½ cup buttermilk
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • For topping: 6 tablespoons brown sugar and ½ additional cup grated coconut

Instructions
 

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  • Spray two loaf pans with cooking or baking spray.
  • In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.
  • After you have grated the zucchini, grab handfuls and squeeze between your hands to remove as much liquid as possible.
  • Gently mix the zucchini into the flour mixture – then mix in the grated carrot, and finally mix in the coconut.
  • In a separate, smaller bowl, combine the eggs, canola oil, buttermilk and vanilla. Stir together.
  • Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture, only until well combined.
  • Divide the batter evenly between the two loaf pans.
  • Sprinkle the tops of each with about 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and ¼ cup coconut.
  • Bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the top of the loaf comes out clean.

It all begins with a batter that comes together pretty easily. The most time consuming item is the grating of all the zucchini and carrots, but if you happen to have a food processor it all comes together in short order. I usually grate a ton of both zucchini and carrots so I have extra if I want to bake again later in the week, or if I want to top a salad or add to a soba noodle dish. I figure if the food processor is already being used, I might as well make the best of it.

If you don’t have a food processor, this effort will require a bit of bearing down and swearing over a hand held grater, but the effort will be worth it. You can leave the loaves plain on top, but adding some brown sugar and even more coconut pays off big dividends in the flavor and appearance categories.

This is essentially a ‘quick bread’ which means that they do not like to be stirred very much. Stirring too long toughens up those gluten strands in the flour and will make your loaf tough, so spare yourself the effort and you will be handsomely rewarded.

My favorite way to eat this is to pop some big, thick slices into the toaster, then slather them with butter. It’s one of those ‘go big or go home’ moments for me.

…but if I’m feeling virtuous I’ll just slice a few pieces and go for it straight out of the oven. Either way this is totally worth all of that grating!

Hoping very much that you enjoy this one – it’s become a regular guest at our table. Thanks so much for reading today. xoxoxox

Hello. I’m Roberta Reynolds.

I’m so glad you dropped in! Welcome to Bird’s Nest Bakery and Café, a collection of ‘made from scratch’, seasonal recipes developed in my home kitchen. I’ve been obsessed with creating the easiest and most delicious recipes possible since I could reach the top of a stove.

I hope you’ll find this site a welcome and relaxing place where you can come for inspiration and ideas. Take a look, have fun, and feel free to modify these recipes to suit your particular palate. It would make me so happy if you would share these recipes with friends and family. After all, cooking and baking are meant to be shared with those we care about. That’s what’s so much fun about it!