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This Whole Wheat Lemon Zucchini Bread with Walnuts is super soft and flavorful. It’s easy to whip up and offers some nutrients, thanks to whole wheat flour!
Planting zucchini means a massive harvest. Always. And when there’s an abundance of zucchini, the only answer is bread. (Apologies, again, to the three dozen seemingly forgotten brown bananas in my freezer. We’ll get there.) In this particular recipe, we’ve brightened up the flavors by swapping the usual vanilla extract for lemon extract—and double the amount! We’ve also added walnuts. We don’t know about you, but having a nutty crunch in our breakfast-y breads is a must. You could also be a little devil and add chocolate chips ;)
Why put zucchini in bread?
Well, we can’t eat fried zucchini fritters every day. Putting zucchini in bread does seem a little odd; you hardly know it’s there, and it’s nutritional value isn’t as impressive when compared to some other veggies. But since this beloved summer squash is mostly made up of water, it brings a whole lot of moisture to the bread. Extra moisture is especially welcomed when baking with stone ground whole wheat flour like we did here.
How to make Whole Wheat Lemon Zucchini Bread.
We love using a high-protein stone ground whole wheat flour in baked goods whenever possible. With the bran and germ still intact, there’s actually some nutritional value there. It does require more moisture, however. So there are a few extra ingredients added to the mix, like extra virgin olive oil and apple sauce, to ensure you get a nice melt-in-your-mouth treat.
Here’s what you need:
- Zucchini
- Unrefined sugar
- Unsweetened apple sauce
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Eggs
- Lemon extract
- Whole wheat flour
- Baking powder
- Baking soda
- Kosher salt
- Ground cinnamon
- Chopped walnuts
Hope you enjoy!
If you plan on making this recipe, be sure to snap a pic and tag us on Insta! @killing__thyme.
Whole Wheat Lemon Zucchini Bread with Walnuts
Ingredients
- 1.5 cups grated zucchini, lightly packed (don't drain)
- 1/4 cup granulated unrefined sugar
- 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp lemon extract
- 1.5 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º F.
- Lightly grease, or line with parchment, a 9x5 inch loaf pan with a bit of olive oil or butter.
- In a large bowl, add the grated zucchini, sugar, applesauce, oil, eggs, and lemon extract. Whisk the ingredients until well combined.
- In another bowl, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Whisk until combined. Then, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, stirring just until no streaks of flour remain; try not to over mix it.
- Carefully pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick or cake tester can be inserted into the center of the bread and come out with moist crumbs on it.
- Remove the bread from the oven and set it on the counter to cool, in the pan, for about 10 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and transfer it to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before slicing into it.
