This recipe comes from my mom. Her original recipe calls for 1 cup of oil, but we have modified it to make it a little lighter. It’s still just as tasty and a great way to use up some of your bumper crop of zucchini (or in my case, the overflowing CSA box!)

Best we can recall this recipe should make 2 full sized loaves, but my mom hasn’t made full loaves of this in years. She makes it in mini-loaf pans. I wanted to try it in a few different formats so my one batch made 5 mini-loaves, 24 mini-muffins (I need a 12 step program!!), and 6 regular sized muffins. They all took a little different length of time to cook, but they all came out great!

Mom’s Zucchini Bread

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
3 eggs slightly beaten
2 cups sugar
2 cups grated raw zucchini
2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine oil, applesauce, eggs, sugar, zucchini, and vanilla in a bowl. Stir in flour, soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. (use a spoon or spatula – don’t use a mixer!). Stir in nuts, if using. Spoon into greased loaf or muffin pans.

Baking time: Large Loaf Pans = about 1.5 hours, Mini Loaf Pans = 35 to 40 minutes, Regular Size Muffin Tins = 30 minutes, Mini Size Muffin Tins = 20 minutes

Cool in pan 5 minutes. Flip out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool fully before cutting into it.