Squishy-squash: the sequel

I still had a couple zucchinis kicking around, so I thought it’d be a good time for round 2 of baking with zucchini! This recipe is tasty, moist, and healthy too. I sent it off with Joffre for the crew doing emergency medicine. I think they enjoyed it =)

Zucchini Bread with Dried Cranberries (adapted from twopeasandtheirpod.com)

• 1 3/4 cups shredded zucchini
• 3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/3 cup applesauce
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2-3/4 cup dried cranberries
• Cinnamon/sugar to sprinkle on top

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat a 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan with cooking spray, and set aside. Grate zucchini on the large holes of a box grater (to yield 1 3/4 cups); set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together sugars, oil, applesauce, vanilla, and eggs.
2. Into a small bowl, sift together flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and salt. Add flour mixture to egg mixture, and stir to combine well. Stir in grated zucchini and dried cranberries.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with cinnamon/sugar mixture- (if you wish, I didn’t think it needed it!). Bake until a toothpick inserted in centre of loaf comes out clean, about 40-45 minutes. (It took about 50 minutes for me) Cool in a pan 10 minutes – invert onto a wire rack, then reinvert, top side up. Cool completely before slicing.

Calories: ~160 calories/slice (slicing 13 slices)

Squash time.

It seems like this year summer just sort of took a time out, and before you know it…frost was upon us. Where did fall go? FALL IS NO WHERE TO BE FOUND! Fall’s not supposed to include frost, and cold, and a chance of flurries!

…oh wait, we live in Alberta.

However, the pseudo-autumn season does bring along it’s harvest of squash. I have an acorn squash, a spaghetti squash, and tonnnns of zucchini just waiting to be cooked! We have several zucchini from my garden, begging to be used…so I thought I’d bake with them too. SUCH a good idea! This is the first of hopefully a few recipes to be posted about zucchinis in baking. It sounds weird, yes? But think about carrot cake…that’s kind of weird-sounding too! But delicious! These chocolate zucchini brownies bake up moist, cakey, and satisfying. You can’t taste any zucchini, but it gives it some lightness, so you don’t feel so gross after eating brownies. I also calculated the calories – 160 per bar! And they make fairly big bars too! So put your zucchinis to good use and make some of these suckers.

Chocolate Zucchini Brownies (Recipe adapted from Food Finery – from two peas and their pod)
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cocoa
2 cups shredded zucchini
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 9 x 11 baking pan with cooking spray, set aside.
2. In a stand mixer, combine sugar, canola oil, and flour, combine until mixture resembles wet sand. While mixing, on low, add cocoa, zucchini, vanilla extract, salt and baking soda. Mix until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. Pour brownie batter into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean and the brownies are set.
4. Cool on a wire rack. Cut brownies into squares and serve. I cut them 4×6 and got 24 brownies

Chronicles from the East

Life gets so busy sometimes. One second you’re go-go-go in third year of medical school, posting recipes to stay sane and baking while you can…

and then one second you’re in fourth year. And everything is different! I’m busy…but in a different way. I’ve got reference letter packages to drop off, errands to run, life to sort out. Oh, and my parents stole the camera so I can’t take pictures of anything I’ve made.

But here is a recipe I made while in Halifax on electives. I didn’t bake very much over the summer, but these cupcakes were prettttty tasty!

I found these little treats on joythebaker’s website (who in turn adapted them from Martha Stewart). I used a regular cream cheese frosting instead of dulce de leche because MMMMM I love cream cheese!

Carrot Cake Cupcakes (adapted from Joy the Baker)
makes about 28 cupcakes
* 4 cups peeled and finely grated carrots (if you’re a weakling like me, get a nice strong man to do it for you!)
* 3 large eggs, room temperature
* 2 cups sugar
* 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
* 1/3 cup buttermilk (As usual, in a pinch I took 1/3 cup regular milk + 1/3 tbsp vinegar)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup crushed pineapple, well drained
* 1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and finely chopped (omitted for nut allergies)
* 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1 teaspoon ground ginger
* 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with paper liners. In a bowl, whisk together carrots, eggs, sugar, oil, buttermilk, vanilla seeds, and coconut, pineapple and nuts if desired. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Stir flour mixture into carrot mixture until well combined.
2. Divide batter among muffin cups, filling each 3/4 full. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until testers inserted into centers come out clean, 23 to 28 minutes. Let cool in tins on wire racks, 10 minutes. Turn out cupcakes onto wire racks, and let cool completely. Unfrosted cupcakes can be stored overnight at room temperature, or frozen for up to 2 months in airtight containers.
3. Frost cupcakes with dulce de leche or cream cheese frosting. Frosted cupcakes can be refrigerated for up to 3 days; bring to room temperature, and sprinkle with toasted coconut (press gently to adhere) before serving.

DELISH!