whole wheat zucchini bread

recently i made some goodies for some special people. one of those goodies was a wonderful zucchini bread i'd found via smitten kitchen (favorite it).  i anticipated this bread to taste much like the bread my mom makes because it has all the right ingredients for delicious results.  i was right.  i stole a slice from the loaf i'd delivered to my grandma a few weeks back when i visited her for lunch.  it was so good, i was glad i was leaving it behind on her kitchen counter.

the second loaf went to a deserving family and apparently, they enjoyed the taste as much as i had.   when i was asked for the recipe, i could tell it was assumed that the bread they'd eaten was a nutritious loaf of zucchini bread.  delicious? yes.  nutritious? not so much.  woops.

so i set out to recreate the bread with some better-for-you ingredients and i've just tasted my first slice.  SCORE!

seriously.  seriously, this recipe came straight out of my head, i amazed myself.  i've never done that before; just throw ingredients in a bowl and hope for the best.  it worked.  hooray!

whole wheat zucchini bread
3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp each of (ground) nutmeg, cloves & allspice
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup canola oil
2 Tbsp light agave
3 large eggs
3 cups zucchini, grated
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 oz bittersweet baking chocolate, chopped (optional).

pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.  spray two 8x4 loafs pans with non-stick spray and lightly flour.  set aside.

grate the zucchini and squeeze out excess moisture with a few paper towels.  fluff with a fork.

in a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and spices.

in a separate bowl, combine brown sugar, oil and agave.  mix until well blended.  add eggs, one at a time, blending well after each egg.  on the lowest speed setting, add zucchini and vanilla until just combined.

slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients.  don't over mix.

gently fold the chocolate into the batter.

pour batter evenly into prepared pans.  smooth out tops.  bake for 40-45 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.  do not over bake.  cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing loaves from pans to finish cooling on a rack (don't leave the loaves in the pans for longer than 10 minutes).

eat it.

makes 2 loaves with approximately 12-13 slices per loaf.

Nutrition Facts whole wheat zucchini bread Serving Size: 1 serving Amount Per Serving Calories 114 Total Fat 3.7g       Saturated Fat 0.4g       Trans Fat 0g Cholesterol 21mg Sodium 182mg Carbohydrate 17.7g       Dietary Fiber 1.6g       Sugars 7.1g Protein 2.3g Vitamin A 1% Vitamin C 4% Calcium    1% Iron 3%