Lake Country Zucchini Bread

The recipe Oma found - pictures are mouth-watering!

Oma came back from the Lake yesterday with a recipe she wanted me to try for zucchini bread.  We made two loaves a week or so ago using a Victory Garden Cookbook recipe that I've had for years and it was good ...... not spectacular, but good. Plans were to use this same recipe to use up the three zucchinis we currently have on hand.

The new recipe was in the little Lake Country magazine that you can pick up for free down there and the pictures of the recipe looked really ..... tasty! When I compared it with my current recipe, they were very similar - same amounts of flour, eggs and zucchini; however, this one had 1/4 cup more sugar, 1/2 cup more oil, 1 tsp. more vanilla, more cinnamon and the baking soda/powder amounts were different. So, we gave it a try and it was, in my opinion, better than the old recipe!

There is one issue with this recipe and that is the baking temp and time. The recipe states "Bake at 325 degrees until toothpick test shows it's done. Check at 30 minutes and bake longer if needed".  ALL of my other zucchini bread recipes call for a 350 degree oven and a baking time for two loaf pans of 50-60 minutes.  I set my oven at 350 and tested at 40 minutes ..... definitely not done. I added 15 minutes and then the loaves did test done at a total of 55 minutes for baking.  The recipe also said a 9 x 13 baking dish works well as an alternative ...... with a dish that shallow, I can possibly see a 30 minute baking time.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 3 eggs, slightly beaten
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups grated fresh zucchini
• 2 tsp. vanilla

Combine in a large mixing bowl.  Blend well.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3 tsp. cinnamon

Stir into wet mixture (do not beat) until well-blended.

• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup raisins

1. Fold in pecans and raisins. (I would think either or both of these could be 'optional').
2. Spoon batter into two well-greased loaf pans, or a 9 x 13 baking dish works as well.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes until toothpick test shows it's done.
4. If using loaf pans, allow to cool in pans for 15 minutes or so, then place on rack until completely cooled.

A loaf of Lake Country Zucchini Bread

Source: Lake Country Magazine, Courtesy: Linda Foster, The Daily Herald classified sales executive.