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For the last several years I have been trying out different zucchini bread recipes and not having a lot of luck. I had used the same recipe for years and years but couldn’t find it and figured I had somehow lost it along the way. I went through my family recipe books but still hadn’t found what I was looking for.
After yet another Pinterest baking fail, I turned to my friends and fam on Facebook and sent a shout out for a good, tried and true, old-fashioned, no frills, basic zucchini bread recipe. My cousin responded and told me she always used our grandma’s recipe from the old family cookbook. I was so confused because I had searched the book and not seen a single zucchini bread recipe. She sent me a photo of the recipe with the page number in her book. Lo and behold, when I went back to my old tattered book I found two pages stuck together, hiding Grandma’s recipe between them.
Hallelujah!
There it was, the recipe I had used all those years, hiding right under my nose. To make sure that I never lose Great Grandma Madeline’s recipe again, I’m posting it here on the blog. I get pretty self-conscious when it comes to food photography so I don’t share many recipes here even though I love to cook. I’ve been working on my photo taking and styling skills in a course I am taking from Ashley Ann Photography so hopefully, my photos are slowly getting better and looking a little tastier!
If not, don’t judge the bread from the pics. It’s a good recipe, I swear!
This recipe makes no fuss, basic zucchini bread. I’m a bit of a zucchini bread purist. I know it’s the Utah way but, I don’t love added chocolate chips. I just want cinnamony zucchini goodness. That being said, it’s easy to doctor this bread up. If you love chocolate chips, reduce the cinnamon and sprinkle in the chocolate. Like nuts? Add them. Hate nuts? Leave them out. Want a streusel topping, mix up some flour and sugar then cut in a bit of butter to make it crumbly then sprinkle that on top of the uncooked batter just before baking. Or, make a glaze from powdered sugar and milk to drizzle over once it has baked.
When you have a great basic recipe, you can use it dozens of different ways.
Madeline Losser Anderson was one of the best cooks in Utah County. Grandma loved to feed people. She was a gracious host and always made sure you left her presence with a full belly. It was one of her very special talents. Though I was only 4 when I lived with her, and she was ill with cancer, I remember vividly helping her haul food and veggies to our needy neighbors. She served people willingly, with all her heart. I remember laying under her quilts on the frame and passing the needles and thread back up. I also remember sitting on her front grass sobbing my little eyes out the day that she passed.
We were kindred spirits, Grandma and me. I’ve always strived to be someone she would be proud of. And now I cry. But, I guess that’s a sign of a life well lived. When the memory is so sweet it brings happy tears to your eyes.
No, Grandma’s bread isn’t fancy and it won’t win any baking awards. It’s simple and belly filling, just like the woman who used to make it for her rambunctious little stink all those years ago.
Hope you enjoy.