Browsing through my bookmarks I stumbled upon www.101CookBooks.com and remembered what a wonderful site it was. Filled with delicious recipes many which are quite unique.

The owner and creator of 101CookBooks.com is Heidi Swanson a San Francisco based photographer, cookbook author, and designer.

I encourage you to visit Heidi’s site, bookmark it and visit often. You will be pleased I pointed you in her direction.

Heidi Swanson is an avid cooking author and from reading her bio a highly experienced cook. You may well pick up a few things from her.

Her writing and photographs have been featured in The Washington Post, Vegetarian Times, Whole Foods Markets, and on NPR. Projects.

Her writings have also been highlighted in many national and local publications including the Wall Street Journal, LIFE, Shape Magazine, Vegetarian Times, USA Today, Fast Company, Entertainment Weekly, Glamour, and the San Francisco Chronicle.

Zucchini Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts, plus a few to sprinkle on top

1/3 cup poppy seeds (optional)

zest of two lemons (optional)

1/2 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped (optional)

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup fine grain natural cane sugar or brown sugar, lightly packed

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups grated zucchini (about 3 medium), skins on, squeeze some of the moisture out and then fluff it up again before using

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or all-purpose flour)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon curry powder (optional)

Special equipment: two 1 pound loaf pans (5 x 9 inches)

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Butter the two loaf pans, dust them
   with a bit of flour and set aside. Alternately, you can line the pans
   with a sheet of parchment. If you leave a couple inches hanging over
   the pan, it makes for easy removal after baking. Just grab the
   parchment “handles” and lift the zucchini bread right out.
2. In a small bowl combine the walnuts, poppy seeds, lemon zest, and ginger. Set aside.
3. In a mixer, beat the butter until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat
   again until mixture comes together and is no longer crumbly. Add the
   eggs one at a time mixing well and scraping down the sides of the bowl
   between each addition. Stir in the vanilla and then the zucchini (low
   speed if you are using a mixer).
4. In a separate bowl, combine the whole wheat pastry flour, baking
   soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and curry powder. Add these dry
   ingredients to the wet ingredients in two batches, stirring between
   each addition.
5. By hand, fold in the walnut, poppy seed, lemon zest, and crystallized
   ginger mixture. Save a bit of this to sprinkle on the tops of the
   zucchini loaves before baking for a bit of texture. Avoid over mixing
   the batter, it should be thick and moist, not unlike a butter cream
   frosting.
6. Divide the batter equally between the two loaf pans. Make sure it is
   level in the pans, by running a spatula over the top of each loaf. Bake
   for about 40-45 minutes on a middle oven rack. I like to under bake my
   zucchini bread ever so slightly to ensure it stays moist. Keep in mind
   it will continue to cook even after it is removed from the oven as it
   is cooling. Remove from the oven and cool the zucchini bread in pan for
   about ten minutes. Turn out onto wire racks to finish cooling – if you
   leave them in their pans, they will get sweaty and moist (not in a good
   way) as they cool.

Makes 2 loaves.

A time-saving tip: If you have a food processor with the grating
attachment, use it to shred the zucchini. It will perfectly shred three
zucchini in about five seconds.

On the flour front, this recipe calls
for whole wheat pastry flour, it lends a nice, tender crumb to the
zucchini bread – feel free to swap in unbleached all-purpose flour if
it is more convenient or happens to be your flour of choice.

This recipe calls for curry powder, I also did a delicious version with a Raz el Hanout spice blend from one of my favorite local spice blend producers, highly
recommended! Just swap in 1 tablespoon of the Raz el Hanout in place of
the curry powder.

Special Note: If you have Cook’s Choice Better Breader Loaf Bowl you can use this recipe with it. The loafs will be smaller so rather than have two nine inch loafs you will have perhaps 4 smaller loafs.