Zucchini, Carrot & Coconut Bread
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.
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.