Did you know that they sell quick bread box mixes in grocery stores!? I think that’s so strange. Fake flour, loads of sugar, and ultra dehydrated blueberries in a box to be mixed with water and eggs. This concerns me… deeply. Exactly how quick does a quick bread have to be to make it in this world?
I think homemade quick breads are dreamy. With enough creativity and guts, you can throw just about anything into a quick bread and call it delicious. This go around I tried zucchini and sweet potato. The combination produced a full and unique flavor: not too heavy on the zucchini or sweet potato flavors. And of course, because I’m me, I also loaded the bread with spices, nuts and cranberries. You can modify if to your taste, I make room for that in the recipe. Because, yes, I care.
What’s your favorite kind of quick bread? If you say the boxed kind, I swear, I’ll scream.
Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread
adapted from Bon Appetit Magazine, November 1992
2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat flour)
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves (the nutmeg and the cloves are optional, you’ll just have a less spicy bread)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup granulated sugar and 1 cup brown sugar)
3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/2 cup oil and 1/4 cup apple sauce. Less fat.)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini
1 1/2 cup peeled and grated sweet potato
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 9x5x3- inch loaf pan and set aside. Sift the first 7 ingredients into a medium sized bowl. In a seperate, large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix in the zucchini and sweet potato. Add the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Fold in the nuts and cranberries and stir well.
Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cool bread in pan on a rack for 15 minutes. Loosen the edges of the bread with a butter knife and turn out on a rack to cool completely. Can be prepared 1 day in advance. Wrap in foil and keep at room temperature.
Felicia
I just made this and it’s great! I burned the edges a bit because I didn’t think it was quite done, but we’ll just say it gives the bread a nice crisp flair? I also made some extra batter into muffins. Great recipe!
AnnCP
Made your bread this morning. It was great. However, the amount of batter was overflowing came to the rim of the 9×5 bread pan, so I put a cups worth into a baby loaf pan. Question – would all have this fit into the loaf pan? Would it have overflowed versus raising high enough for an excellent looking loaf?
The only deviation I made to your recipe was using apple butter instead of applesauce.
I will make this again, but will add a little more spices (love spicy) and some orange or lemon zest, and plump up my craisins before adding them to mixture.
Great find! Thanks.
Riley
I just made this recipe and it was so good! My sister, who hates any vegetable of any kind, said it was her favorite “dessert” ever. I used chocolate chips instead of dried cranberries and almonds instead of walnuts since my family didn’t like those two ingredients. The chocolate got all melty and it made for an even more delicious bread. This is definitely a keeper!
meredith s.
I just made this = amazing!! I added flax seed and 1/2 a banana to cut down on the sugar. It is definitely my new favorite!!