Recipes

[Carol1229]

When I get an idea in my head for a new zucchini bread, I won't rest until I give it a try. There's NO shortage of zucchini coming out of my garden so I have NO excuse to get these brainstorms of mine into action.

I love the combination of cherries, pistachios and chocolate in cookies and biscotti.....soooooo, why not in zucchini bread? Each flavor layered one on top of the other? That would work............right?

Only one way to find out!

I started with a base batter using vanilla instant pudding, then weighed the batter on my kitchen scale and divided it evenly into thirds. I found another bottle of maraschino cherries in the cupboard (where ARE these things COMING FROM?) so chopped some of those and added cherry extract to bowl of batter #1. Cherry juice may work if you don't have cherry extract, but I think the extract adds a bigger punch of cherry flavor. I also thought it needed a little more color, so added a little red food coloring.

Bowl #2 of batter needed pistachios-those I had in the freezer. A quick chop and drop and that was done.......I then added almond extract and LorAnn Pistachio oil to ramp up the flavor of the batter-and a few drops of green food coloring gave me the hint of color I wanted.

Now for the chocolate batter..........I found some bittersweet baking chocolate that needed used up so I melted a couple squares and stirred that into bowl #3.

Now to fill the pans.

The cherry batter went in first. Now to the pistachio......which really didn't want to spread evenly over the cherry batter........then the chocolate batter, which is REALLY thick and REALLY doesn't want to spread........now what? When in doubt-SWIRL lightly with a knife.

Boy did I hold my breath with this one. It rose beautifully and smelled heavenly while it was baking. The final test was going to be when I cut it......what the HECK is the inside going to look like?

Did you ever hold your breath slicing into something? I sure did when I sliced into that first loaf...............I was almost afraid to look. Much to my surprise, what I thought WASN'T going to be layers turned into just what I wanted-3 separate layers of flavor.

Each bite of this bread gives you a different pop of taste.....it all depends on what flavor batter is dominating that bite.......you could have a chocolate/cherry combo or a cherry/pistachio or a chocolate/pistachio...........oh you know what I mean. It's ALL GOOD. No it's better than good-it's DELICIOUS!

I'm SO happy with the way this turned out-it's just the flavor I wanted.

Off to see what other experiments I can come up with in my kitchen "laboratory"......


Carol


SPUMONI SWIRL ZUCCHINI BREAD

3 large eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c. granulated sugar
1 c. canola OR vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. unpeeled, shredded zucchini
3 c. all-purpose flour
1 (4-serving size) pkg. French vanilla OR vanilla instant pudding mix
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 c. chopped maraschino cherries, well drained
1 1/2 tsp. cherry extract
5 drops red food coloring
1/2 c. chopped pistachios
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. pistachio oil (such as LorAnn oil)
5 drops green food coloring
2 (1 oz. each) squares bittersweet chocolate, melted
Raw sugar for sprinkling over the tops of the breads

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease (2) 9x5-inch OR (5) 5x3-inch loaf pans; set aside.

Shred zucchini using on the large whole side of a box grater. Place the shredded zucchini in a mesh strainer to drain; set aside while assembling other ingredients.

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, oil and vanilla extract.

With your hands (or a potato ricer!), squeeze all the excess moisture you can out of the shredded zucchini, then stir it into egg mixture.

In a medium bowl. whisk together the flour, vanilla pudding mix, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the egg/zucchini mixture, stirring just until combined.

Divide the batter equally into 3 bowls.

In bowl number one, add the chopped cherries, cherry extract and red food coloring, stirring just until well combined. Divide the cherry batter evenly between the prepared pans.

In bowl number two, add the chopped pistachios, almond extract, pistachio oil (if using) and green food coloring, stirring just until well combined. Drop the pistachio batter onto the cherry batter in the pans; lightly spread.

Add the melted chocolate to bowl number three of batter; stir just until well combined (batter will be VERY thick). Drop the chocolate batter over the pistachio and cherry batter. Using a sharp knife, lightly swirl the batters to marble.

Bake @ 350 degrees for 45-60 minutes for the large loaves and 35-40 minutes for the smaller loaves, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let the breads cool in the pans on a wire rack for 15 minutes; remove from pans to wire rack and cool completely. Makes 2 large or 5 small loaves.