Sunday Morning Zucchini Bread

When I learned from a friend that those indeed were not just rotting bananas in her freezer--I was scrabbling around for some ice to make a cocktail--no, rather they were a deliberate trick, freezing old bananas first and putting them aside to later make the most wonderful banana bread. Well, that sounded good to me and certainly something to try so Baby and I froze some bananas with good intentions but forgot about them and they sat for too long in our freezer and just got gross so we ended up throwing them out over the weekend. But it did get me thinking about making a sweet, slightly savory bread to make that Saturday afternoon and wake up to on Sunday morning, so I tried my hand at making zucchini bread, which I've always thought tastes very similar to gingerbread. My loaves were quite scrumptious, good on their own, served room-temperature or toasted and slathered with terrific Tofutti spread ("better than cream cheese" with half the fat and no dairy as well) or butter, or both! I would use a little more baking powder than the recipe suggests to elevate the bread, to perhaps form a more gracious arc. Also, toast the walnuts at 375 degrees for maybe 5 minutes and when you start to get a nutty whiff emanating from the oven, they are done.

We nibbled on our loaves of zucchini bread over several days!

Spiced Zucchini Walnut Bread

Adapted from Bon Appetit, June 2004
Makes 2 loaves

Ingredients
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (from about 2 medium)
1 cup walnuts, toasted, coarsely chopped (about 4 ounces)

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Butter and flour two 8x4x2 1/2-inch metal loaf pans.

Whisk flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, allspice, and baking powder in medium bowl to blend. Whisk sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, vanilla, and lemon peel in large bowl to blend. Whisk in flour mixture. Mix in zucchini and walnuts. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake breads until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes.

Let stand 10 minutes.

Turn breads out onto rack and cool completely.

(Can be made 1 day ahead. Wrap in foil and store at room temperature.)