This healthy zucchini bread is a great alternative to store-bought, less healthy treats! And you can also make muffins with the same mix.
It’s snowing, and Don took Landon to freeze his little nose off while sledding with his cousins, so I thought it’s a good time to make a stash of my easy and healthy zucchini carrot bread.
We all love it, and I don’t feel guilty eating it or giving it to Landon because it is made from nutritious, healthy ingredients.
I’m not much of a cook (okay, I’m REALLY not much of a cook), but I make the best zucchini bread in town.
I realize I’m giving away the possibility of making millions if I were to mass-produce this deliciousness for the general public, but who has the time to pursue that?
Not this mom.
My venture into baking started with a recipe for zucchini bread from allrecipes.com, but it has evolved into so much more.
Now I also add carrots (and recently pecans and chocolate chips, there is no end to the improvements) and bake them in cups instead of in loaf pans.
So I thought I’d share my quick and easy recipe while the muffins are baking.
These muffins are a great alternative to store-bought, less healthy treats. I use mostly organic ingredients, but you don’t have to, obviously.
I also use whole wheat flour and substitute half of the oil with unsweetened applesauce.
And I found these great baking cups from IF YOU CARE in my local grocery store. They are environmentally friendly because they are made out of unbleached, beige paper, which means no chlorine is dumped into our environment.
I put the muffins into plastic bags and store them in the refrigerator. They get even juicier and better in the next few days!
This stash will probably last us three or four days, after I share a few with my neighbors and the large Bleasdale clan.
Healthy Zucchini Bread (well, Healthy Whole Wheat Zucchini and Carrot Muffins)
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: about an hour
Ready In: 1 hour 20 minutes
Yields: about 24 servings
Healthy Zucchini Bread Ingredients:
3 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
½ cup applesauce
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup grated carrots
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
3 cups of whole wheat flour
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon nutmeg
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)
1 cup of walnuts or pecans (optional)
Healthy Zucchini Bread or Muffins Directions:
1. In a large bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Mix in oil, apple sauce, and sugar. Stir in zucchini, carrots, and vanilla. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and powder, salt, and nutmeg; stir into egg mix. If you want, add some chocolate chips or nuts to the batter, I use half in the mix and keep half for decoration.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flower two 8 x 4 loaf pans or use large baking cups.
3. Divide into 24 baking cups or pans. Bake for about 50 minutes, and then check with a fork. If some batter sticks to it, they still need some time. If you can still see the zucchini pieces pretty well on the top, they are not ready; you want the tops to be brown and almost uniform.
Ah, my oven is beeping, the muffins are done. Gotta go!
I want to eat one in peace all by myself before my men come home.
Go ahead, make these easy zucchini bread muffins and let me know what you think :)
