Blueberry Zucchini Bread

I love quickbreads and muffins. It's the number one food label/tag on this blog. I'm perhaps more than slightly obsessed by finding recipes for moist, soft, not-too-sweet muffin-y goodness (as evidenced by the disproportionate number of recipes I have of quickbreads of various sorts versus other types of baked goods). They're quick and easy, often don't require a mixer, are crowd-pleasers, and freeze up beautifully for months of delicious, homemade breakfasts.

But I have a somewhat shameful admission to make as a baker and as a quickbread/muffin-lover:

I don't like banana bread.

Heresy, I know, I know... One of the most versatile base recipes ever, rich in nutrients, moist... everything a good quickbread should be. I just don't like the taste, or the smell. I barely like eating fresh bananas. (And let's all ignore the phallic implications of bananas...)

But wait, hear me out. (Don't burn me yet).

I humbly offer as a replacement delicacy: zucchini bread.

Light and fluffy. No aftertaste. You can grow it in your backyard (or can bum some off of a neighbor or friend who does). Goes so well with cinnamon, you can put as much as your little spicy heart desires.

And after making this recipe, my first zucchini bread + fruit combo, I know that zucchini bread does a good job of soaking up the moisture of the added berries so that the bread is not left with little pools of sogginess where the berries are. The blueberries instead blend in with their surroundings and provide bursts of juicy berry highlighted against a canvas of all that embodies fluffy and moist. Now I don't have to be envious of all the yummy flavor combos for banana bread that I see; I can just convert them to zucchini bread!

95% of the loaf that I took to work was gone within an hour. Good thing I made an extra one for myself.

Blueberry Zucchini Bread, Double Recipe (adapted from mybakingaddiction.com; see link for single recipe)

Ingredients:
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup white sugar (I used sucanat)
1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
2 cups shredded zucchini (probably around 1 large zucchini)

1 & 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 & 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour)
1 teaspoon kosher salt (if you use regular salt, probably want to go a little under 1 teaspoon)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2 cups fresh blueberries (if using frozen, probably better to not defrost and add some baking time)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line two loaf pans (approx. 8 x 4 inch pan or larger)

In a bowl, sift together the flours, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Whisk to combine ingredients evenly (tip: use the color of the cinnamon distribution as an indicator of how evenly combined the dry ingredients are).

In another large bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugars. Fold/stir in the zucchini until evenly combined. Dump in all except a little bit of the dry ingredients. Pour the blueberries into the bowl with the reserved dry ingredients and toss to coat so the blueberries are dusty. Using a rubber spatula, FOLD the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. When you are approximately halfway through combining the two phases (i.e. there are still pools of wet ingredients and large streaks of dry ingredients), dump in the blueberries and continue folding gently until evenly combined. In the case of quickbreads, you can mix a little longer than when making muffins, but not excessively much--make sure the batter is evenly thick throughout and then STOP.

Distribute batter between the two pans as evenly as possible. This may be a good time for the kitchen scale. Be aware that the blueberries may favor one loaf pan over the other depending on how you pour because they sink in the batter a little bit; make sure they end up evenly distributed between both pans.

Bake for approximately 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees or until a skewer comes out clean. I'd start checking at about 45 minutes and every 5 minutes after. Darker, heavier pans will cook more quickly than lighter pans.

Cool 20 minutes in pans, then unmold and cool completely on a rack.