Blueberry Zucchini Bread

 Blueberry Zucchini Bread

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Needed another zucchini recipe and I saw a version of this recipe on allrecipes.com and I had to give it a try.  I changed quite a few things and I think the result is spectacular.  Had rave reviews from those I passed out to neighbors.

Whenever I make anything with zucchini I almost always shred my zucchini and then plan my recipe according to how much I have.  Zucchini can be shredded and frozen if you have too much or want to half the recipe.  I'm a bread giver so I love big outcomes.  I had 1 large zucchini and ended up with about 3 1/2 cups.  This made 6 mini loaves and 1 large bread loaf.

 INGREDIENTS:
4 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 c. oil
3/4 c. applesauce
4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 c. white sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
3 1/2 c. shredded zucchini
4 1/2 c. flour
couple dashes of nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/8 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 pint blueberries (You can use fresh or frozen; I used about 1 1/2 c. frozen, make sure you add immediately , don't let them thaw and either way, fold GENTLY!)

TOPPING:
1 c. flour
3/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. white sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
3/4 c. butter

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350*.  Lightly grease pans.  (I used 6 mini loaves and 1 regular loaf pan)
2. In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, vanilla and sugars.  Beat in salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.
3. Fold in zucchini.
4. Beat in flour.
5. Gently fold in blueberries.
6. Transfer batter to prepared pans.

You can stop here and skip ahead to baking ... this bread is delicious alone.  I LOVE toppings.  I make a crumb topping that I bake on the top.  You can add this during the last 10 minutes if you like the topping more crunchy (I do this on my banana crumble muffins).  When you bake it the butter and sugars melt into the top.
7. Mix flour, sugars and cinnamon for topping.
8. Cut in butter with pastry blender or by hand.  Sprinkle on top of batter.

9. Bake at 350* for 50 min (for mini loaves) or 1 hour 10 min - 1 hour 15 min (for regular bread loaf) or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

10.  Cool 20 minutes in pan, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

This bread is full of healthy stuff and the kids (except Luke) absolutely LOVE it and ate a whole loaf within 15 minutes of it being ready.  The only reason Luke doesn't like blueberries is he says they look like beans and not a fruit! LOL

ENJOY!