Lemon-Zucchini-Almond Bread

I think I may be in love. And it's not something I ever expected to love... lemon zest! I've never been a lemon fan. I don't like lemonade. I've never used lemon on anything. Ok, I do like the little sweet lemon drop hard candies, but that is it. This recipe is AMAZING. And to top off its amazing yumminess, you also get a little vegetable and some nut protein in each luscious bite! Woohoo! Now that's a win in my book. lol I found this recipe on Pinterest, and a previous bread I made, Lemon Almond Bread, was so good, that I decided to give this one a shot. It's called Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread. The bread is really flavorful; the zucchini adds some depth to it; the almonds add a bit of texture; and the glaze is out of this world. I adapted the recipe just a little bit, but I can't give you a comparison because I never tried the original. Read them both if you so desire, and take your pick! You'll probably notice that the pictures don't look like the same thing, and it's actually not. I made a loaf of this last weekend to try it. Today, I doubled the recipe so that I could make more so that I could take it work tomorrow. It made a little more than I anticipated, so I ended up with a 9X13, a mini-loaf pan full, and a small loaf as well. Following is the single loaf recipe.

2 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
1 1/3 cups sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup buttermilk ***
2 Tbsp lemon zest
1 cup grated zucchini

1/2 cup almonds, plus a Tbsp or so for garnishing

Glaze ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
2.5-3 Tbsp lemon juice

1-2 tsp lemon zest

First prep your fresh ingredients - grate the zucchini and zest and juice the lemons. The original poster left the peel on her zucchini. I think it would have been nice for the color, but I have a picky eater, and it's much easier to hide the zucchini with the green removed.

Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Then add oil and sugar until well blended. 

Add lemon juice, buttermilk, and lemon zest to this mixture and blend all together.

*** Note, if you don't have buttermilk, you can make a substitute by using 1 Tbsp lemon juice and adding enough milk to reach the one cup line. Then use however much you need.

Fold in zucchini until it is mixed well. 

Add dry mixture to the wet mixture and blend all together until well combined.

Add almonds and mix well. Pour batter into greased 9x5 loaf pan.

Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. 

The original says to glaze the bread while it's still warm. I didn't want the heat of the bread to melt the glaze, so I let mine cool first. To make the glaze, mix the powdered sugar, lemon juice and zest until combined.

Carefully spoon glaze over bread. Garnish with a bit of zest and a few almonds. Your mouth should be watering at this point to try it, so go ahead and give it a taste!

Pull Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread

If you like to experiment with new recipes, you know that not every one you attempt is going to be a winner. But the only way to find new things and find those "keeper" recipes, is to continue to try new ones. I found this recipe for Pull Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread on Pinterest more than a year ago, and it took me several months before I actually tried it. The first bite floored me. This is an amazing treat. You can eat this for breakfast or a snack or a dessert. The pumpkin flavor is subtle, but this treat is rather sweet. This concoction is a yeast bread, so it is a little time consuming, but it's not difficult and very worth the time and energy. The original calls for rum in the glaze, which I decided not to use. Also, she says she erred in how she applied the cinnamon and sugar. The first time I made this, I did it the way she did, the second time, I did it the way it should have been, and I found the second way to work better. So check out mine, and check out hers and decide for yourself how you want to make it. Either way, you will not be disappointed. 

Bread ingredients

2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 cup milk (room temperature)
2 1/4 tsp (1 envelope) active dry yeast
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups bread flour

1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Glaze ingredients
2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp milk
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1-2 tsp vanilla

In a saucepan over medium-high heat, brown 2 tablespoons of butter, letting it bubble up and turn a dark golden brown but being careful not to allow it burn (turn black). 

Once browned, remove the pan from the heat and carefully add the milk, return to stove and heat through. 

Pour the milk and butter into the bowl of standing mixer (fitted with a dough hook) and allow to cool so it is no longer hot but also not cool (about 100-110 degrees F). Once it has reached a warm but not hot temperature add the yeast and 1/4 cup of sugar and allow to proof (this can take up to 8 minutes, the top will look foamy and the liquid cloudy). 

Then add the the pumpkin, salt, and 1 cup of flour. 

Stir until combined then add the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time and knead for 6 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic and just slightly sticky. If the dough is too moist, add extra flour 1 tablespoon at a time. Move dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean towel. 

Allow to rise in a warm place for 60-90 minutes or until doubled in size.

Combine sugar and cinnamon is a separate bowl. Melt 2 Tbsp of butter. When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and flip out onto a clean floured surface and knead with hands for 1-2 minutes. Roll dough into a 20×12 inch rectangle. Brush dough with melted butter.

Evenly sprinkle the dough with the cinnamon-sugar mixture.

Cut the rectangle into 6 strips. Lay strips on top of each other and cut each strip into 6 even squares (cut in half then each half into thirds). Stack strips vertically into the loaf pan.

Cover the pan with a clean towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the top is a deep golden brown.

Before bread is finished baking prepare the glaze. Heat the butter, milk, and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to boil then immediately remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and powdered sugar.

Pour over the bread as soon as you remove it from the oven.

Let the glaze settle and harden, and then try not to eat all the bread at once!