Zucchini Coconut Bread

Cheap Eat Challenge, Part 2: Watch as our family of 6 eats on $10/day.

I'm currently working on a zucchini blueberry bread. Well, technically, I'm not yet working on it. Technically, I'm thinking about working on it. But I'm thinking hard. Very hard.

In the meantime, I thought I'd share my very favorite in the universe zucchini bread. The recipe comes from all recipes. I leave out the currants and the nuts and sub in some whole wheat flour. But I don't mess with the sugar (and you all know I love to mess with the sugar) or the oil to try to reduce them. There are some treats that are just too right to be messed with and I believe this is one of them. I even eat it for breakfast sometimes anyway. Because everyone needs a guilty pleasure, right? Except that I usually forget to feel guilty about it. Oops.

Let me tell you another story about this bread: The first time I made this, I tried to ruin it in every way. I underbaked it, but didn't know, so I let it cool and then cut into it and it was gooey--like, really gooey. I put it (that's right--the cut-in-half loaf) back in the oven and pretty much re-baked it for an hour. I thought all was lost. The edges were dark brown. And the middle--who knew--I suspected it was hopelessly dry or still gooey. My friends, it came out delicious. The overly dark edges seemed to have gotten a crispy browned sugar edge and the middle was moist and perfect. Ah, merciful loaf.

So, thank you, Carol from allrecipes.com , for making my zucchini life complete.

Zucchini Coconut Bread
adapted from allrecipes
Makes 1 loaf (or 12 muffins)
Prep time: 10 minutes with food processor; 15 without
Cook time: 1 hour
Cost: $1.00
(egg: .10, oil: .10, zucchini: .20, flour: .07, whole wheat flour: .14, coconut: .35, other stuff: .04)

1 egg
1/2 C vegetable oil (I use canola)
1 C white sugar
1 C grated zucchini
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 C all purpose flour
3/4 C whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 C shredded coconut (I use sweetened)

Note: I use a food processor to shred my zucchini and even when I take into account the time to wash the darn thing, it saves me a bunch of time when grating zucchini. Also, if you have too much zucchini, freeze what remains in a bag labeled with the amount.

Combine egg and oil. Mix in sugar, then zucchini and vanilla. In separate bowl combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. Mix in coconut.

Pour mixture in lightly greased loaf pan (I use a larger 9-inch one, although you could probably cram it into a smaller 7-ish inch one too).

Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

PRINTABLE RECIPE