Family Recipe Zucchini Bread

Yesterday I walked to the farmer's market. I needed the walk and I wanted the produce. While there, I purchased all sorts of goodies, including two ~9 inch zucchinis. As soon as I saw them I could smell the zucchini bread cooking.

I called my parents tonight to find out where this recipe came from. Originally, it was my Grandma T's recipe (my paternal grandmother). Apparently, though, it was my parents' ingenuity to add the chocolate chips. I won't make it any other way.

When I was growing up, all we needed was one giant zucchini from my dad's garden and zucchini bread would happen. I can see my mom standing in the kitchen, bending over the giant yellow/flowered metal bowl, stirring and stirring as she mixed in the shredded zucchini. This, of course, was after she'd carefully mixed together all the other ingredients. I'd marvel as the zucchini leached its liquid into the batter; watching it slowly turn from a nearly sandy texture to something smooth, brown, and magical. I'd get to help lick the bowl clean  (trying carefully to avoid the leftover shreds of zucchini) and then I'd wait as amazing smells filled the kitchen. When I was older, I'd help mix ingredients or shred zucchini, and I no longer avoided the leftover shreds of zucchini in the bowl. Mom would still do the last stirring though; that was her job. To me, this bread is the representation of late summer, of garden bounty, of tradition, of family.

Family Recipe Zucchini Bread
Ingredients
3 c. flour
1 c. brown sugar, lightly packed
1 c. white sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 T. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
dash of ginger
3 "eggs"
1 c. canola/veggie oil
1 T. vanilla
3 c. shredded zucchini
1 c. chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350.
1. Combine all dry ingredients and mix well.
2. Add wet ingredients and stir, mixture will be dry.
3. Add zucchini, keep stirring until you have a batter with a very thick pancake batter consistency.

4. Add chocolate chips.
5. Pour into two greased and floured loaf pans and cook for at least one hour. Rotate pans halfway though and check for doneness using a toothpick. Let cool before attempting to de-pan.

Helpful Hints

• For this recipe I used 1 1/2 of my two approximately 9 inch long zucchinis. You  may need more zucchini than the recipe calls for if your zucchini is not very moist. When you cut open your zucchini, you ideally want to see little beads of water form where its been cut. This is a sign of a fresh and moist zucchini.
• Speaking of zucchini, when you use the big ones like this, you need to remove the seeds from the middle. When you buy the little (4 inches or so) ones at the grocery store, the seeds aren't mature enough and you can just eat them. However, since zucchini is a squash, there are seeds inside the big ones. Consequently, make sure to scoop them out. Your zucchini should look like the picture below (I only used 6 of these pieces in this recipe - I grilled the other pieces). 

• When grating, use the larger size holes if your grater has more than one size. You could use a food processor with a shredding disc, but I can't do it. My tradition is to grate by hand, so grate by hand I do. 
• Be careful as you are purchasing chocolate chips, as not all of them are vegan. Clearly the milk chocolate ones are not, but even some of the semi-sweet ones are not. I use Wegman's brand semi-sweet. 
• You may need slightly longer than one hour to bake these. Check them at an hour, but if your toothpick doesn't come out clean, keep them in for another 5-10 minutes. 
• These loaves freeze amazingly! Wrap them in plastic wrap and then in foil, then just throw them in freezer. Thaw on the counter-top and enjoy summer flavors in February. 

The post "Family Recipe Zucchini Bread" originally appeared on Maggie's LesVegan Kitchen.