Blue Ribbon Zucchini Carrot Apple Muffins and Bread

The two recipes I've tried from Costco Connection have been killer good. When I saw a recipe for a quick bread jammed with vegetables, my mind immediately assumed it would be good and then equated the bread to breakfast. For the sake of convenience and to test the versatility, I chose to use half the batter to make muffins and the other half in a loaf.

Blue Ribbon Zucchini Carrot Apple Bread

adapted from Costco Connection, Feb 2012

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2 c sugar

1 c unsalted butter, melted

3 eggs

1/4 c fresh orange juice

2 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of cloves

2 c shredded carrots

1 c shredded zucchini (unpeeled)

1/2 c golden raisins

1 c finely diced, peeled apples

1/2 c walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease one 8.4x4.5" loaf pan and line a muffin tin to allow for 12 muffins. Or you could

• grease two 8x4" loaf pans or
• grease one Bundt pan or
• line muffin tins to allow for 24 muffins.

In a large bowl, blend the sugar, butter, eggs, orange juice and vanilla.

In a small bowl combine zucchini, carrots, apples, raisins, and walnuts.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet batter along with the shredded carrots, zucchini, raisins, apples and walnuts.

Spoon into prepared pan(s).

Bake until done, muffins about 19 minutes, a loaf about 1 hour, or until loaves spring back when gently touched with fingertips.

Fantastic warm, very good at room temperature, not bad when cold straight from the fridge! I'm definitely going to keep these in a regular rotation, to be kept in mind for those times when I overpurchase zucchini because I'm not sure if one is x number of cups. The muffins were tender soft and moist but not mushy. The loaf was a little dry, but I'm at fault waiting a full 60 minutes before checking for doneness.

Flavorwise, no single bite made me think, "hmm, zucchini", or "hmm, carrots" and only occasionally was there a distinct apple or raisin chunk. If you want chunks, by all means do a larger dice for apples and shred the zucchini and carrots coarsely.

Like any bread I've ever known, especially quick breads, these freeze very well. I really like the muffin option as they are convenient packages of to-go food. Throw a couple in a plastic container and snack on them instead of M&M's or have them for breakfast coupled with some easy-to-eat fruit on the road.

The sugar quantity seems high for what sounds like is super healthy (after all it's packed with vegetables!). Think of it as more of a banana bread without the gross bananas. The article was titled "Eat your veggies and have your cake too." Two cups of sugar or not, this bread still beats out bags of M&M's. If you really want to kick up the nutrition goodness, throw in some flaxseeds or wheat germ. I plan to next time.

And I'll stick to doing muffins. They bake in 1/3 of the time an entire loaf and again, they are convenient. If I was feeding a crew of people and 12 muffins would go in one sitting, I'd go for the loaves. You know someone is going to ask for butter and slices are just more butter-spreading friendly.

Oh, and if you're wondering what is going on with my sugar above, the white stuff is what was left of my non-organic sugar. What looks like brown sugar is actually this organic sugar.

Cost:

• sugar: $0.72
• butter: $1.15
• eggs: $1
• oranges for juice: $0.35
• flour: $0.48
• carrots: $0.25
• zucchini: $0.15
• apple: $0.46
• raisins: $0.50 SWAG
• walnuts: $0.46

TOTAL: $5.52 or $0.46 for each of 12 muffins and $2.76 for a loaf.

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