A zucchini bread that's really cake but shh don’t tell.

I love to drift across the fine line between breakfast food and dessert. Yes, I get that from my mother. To me this is the ultimate zucchini bread because 1. It’s moist. 2. It is heavily dosed with ginger, my favorite. And 3. It is ½ bread and ½ crumble topping. The crumble topping is the best part.

Creating this recipe saved my butt because I, like so many, am overwhelmed with zucchini. This is the first year I decided to plant my own garden. I only have ONE zucchini plant and yet I have 3 zucchinis in my fridge. When I left for 3 days to visit the coast, I came home to a 2lb-er. He was the inspiration for making this recipe a double batch. Which is great because you can give one to a friend…or not ;). 

king zuke plant

Recipe makes 2 loaves!!

Ingredients 

The crumble:

100 g pecans, chopped

100 g AP flour

75 g sugar

50 g oats

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp kosher salt**

1 tsp fresh finely grated ginger

113 g (1 stick) unsalted butter, cubed

The bread:

454g AP flour

2 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp cardamom 

2 tsp kosher salt**

426 g brown sugar

½ c neutral oil

180 g applesauce

4 eggs

2 lbs zucchini, grated

2 tsp vanilla extract 

1 TBS fresh finely grated ginger

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Make the crumble topping. Combine pecans, flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon, salt, ginger in a medium bowl. Add cubed butter, and use your fingers to flake the butter (like you are making scones). The butter should be about the size of your index fingernail. Set crumble aside. 

Now for the bread, grate your zucchini and butter 2 bread pans ahead of time. Whisk the dry: flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt in a large bowl. Mix the wet: brown sugar, oil, applesauce, eggs, zucchini, vanilla, and ginger in a separate large bowl. Fold dry ingredients into wet until the batter is lump-less. 

Divide batter evenly(ish) between pans. Sprinkle prepared crumble on top. Bake for about 1 hr 15 minutes. If you have an accurate thermometer the bread should be about 205 degrees F. Otherwise, you can do the toothpick trick along with checking the crumble to see that it is golden. 

DeeeeeLishhh

A thick slice of this with a little butter is nice, but the ultimate is when you drop a scoop of vanilla ice cream over a warm piece, and it immediately begins to melt. Just sayin. 

Notes:

• AP= all purpose

• Pecans are not necessary, walnuts, hazelnuts, or sunflower seeds would do

• Kosher salt is less salty than pink Himalayan so B CAREFUL 

• neutral oil means: vegetable, grapeseed, avocado, sunflower…there are probably more but that’s all I can think of

Griffin is the cutest and always deserves to be featured in a post.

The way scones were meant to be

Can we just take a moment and contemplate the purpose of a scone.  I doubt the creator meant for them to have the texture of sawdust, or to only be consumed with a pound of butter and a jar of jam. 

There is a technique to make a scone you want to eat. It requires a bit more time, but the results are clearly worth the effort. Let your food processor sit this one out. 

Ingredients:

16.25 oz flour

5 oz sugar

1 tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

8 oz butter

8 oz buttermilk 

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

Extract.... 2 tsp ( vanilla, almond, anise, bergamot, maple) .... fiori di sicilia extract is very strong... just a few drops is all you will need. If you use too much it will taste like perfume 

Sparkling sugar 

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I’m giving the basic procedure for any number of combination below, whichever you chose, it should be added after you smear the butter

1. As always weigh for accuracy 

2. All ingredients should be cold. Weigh all dry ingredients into your work bowl stick it the fridge

3. Cut the butter into tablespoons size pieces and chill it 

4. weigh out your wet ingredients combine and chill

5. the critical piece of this “da vinci code” is to not develop the gluten , same as a pie crust

6. when all ingredients are weighed, you will mix the butter with the dry ingredients, toss around until the butter is coated by the flour, then begin smearing the butter between you thumb and index finger, all the while turning it over. they should be thumb nail size pieces.

7. put the bowl back in the fridge if it gets warm

8. slowly pour the wet ingredients moving in a circler fashion around your bowl.

**If you don’t have a danish whisk a good substitute would be a spatula. Pull together the wet and dry ingredients with the goal of not overworking the mix. 

9. Pull all ingredients into a cohesive round in you bowl.  Remove the round to your bench. Then divide into 2 rounds. They should be about 6 inches in diameter. With a bench scraper or a knife divide into 8  equal triangles. Egg wash, and sprinkle with a touch of sugar.

10. Bake in a 425 oven for 18min

Here are some really good combinations:

1 Dried blueberries with fioria (sold at King Arthur) or vanilla with orange zest

2 Cherry with white chocolate  with Almond extract

3 Fig and walnut with fennel seed and vanilla extract 

4 Cheddar and  chive

5 Apricot and walnut with saffron and orange flower water

6 For short cakes just vanilla...  roll the mixture out ,cut them into rounds place one on top of the other

7 Rosemary and dried apricot and lemon

8 what ever your imagination can come up with😊

save the butter and jam for the next time you get a hockey puck at a bakery!!

Sunshine Granola

I eat granola almost everyday. How else can I live up to my crunchy persona? Not only do I make my own granola, but I make my own ghee that goes into my own granola. Yes, I am THAT extra. This recipe changes based on the season/my mood/what I need to get rid of, but I am going to give you the original recipe and note where I (often) make changes. Sunshine granola was created to add some light to the dark wintery mornings. The color comes largely from turmeric, and the zippy flavor is mostly the citrus/ginger combination.

I also REALLY have to emphasize that this tastes best with Benedikt Dairy yogurt. Benedikt Dairy is a small farm in Goffstown, NH that sells grass-fed meat/dairy along with a bunch of other organic & local produce (which they either grow themselves or pull from other farms). I have a deep love for this yogurt and its tangy flavor. If you are looking to go on an adventure I HIGHLY recommend checking them out, plus they have the cutest baby cows when you walk inside. 

I mean COME ON 😍

Which brings me to a topic that I am very passionate about, but do not typically get to gush over without noticing distant glazed over eyes, that are lost in a field full of butterflies (or some other typical daydream)...FARMS!! Alrighty now I spent some time (3 months) in Italy and was amazed at how the farms were supported in their culture. Instead of the farmer dragging their products to 20 different locations hoping to sell, people from the cities actually visited the farms consistently. Weekend trips to the country were considered a beautiful break from the overstimulating city center. 

The Italian shepherd life.

I have done my fair share of farm work. I have left parts of my soul in the ground in exchange for the nourishment I take out. Farm work is hard work; it forces you to ignore pain in your body for hours. The ache builds when you drag yourself and the tote down the row slowly collecting squash/potatoes/cukes etc. When you eat a potato do you think about the resources mother nature used to make it? Do you think about the love it takes to grow it? Do you think about the pain the farmer endures to harvest it? Do you think about the livelihood you are supporting by valuing it? Just some food for thought. 

Now back to granola ;)

You will need:

• 1 cup oats

• 1 cup coconut flakes

• 1/2 cup buckwheat groats

• 1/4 cup almonds

• 1/4 cashews

• 1/4 other type of nut you have on hand

• 1/4 cup sunflower seeds

• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds

• 1/4 cup hemp seeds

• 1/4 cup sesame seeds

• 1/4 poppy seeds

• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger

• 1 tbs fennel seeds

• 1 tsp turmeric

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1/2 tsp cardamon

• 1/4 tsp clove

• 1 tsp salt

• 1/4 tsp black pepper

• 1 orange (zest & juice)

• 1/2 cup maple syrup

• 1/2 cup ghee

• 1 tsp vanilla

Let's preheat the oven baby!! 350 degrees F, please. 

Grab a large bowl and your favorite rubber spatula. Combine the oats, buckwheat groats, seeds, nuts, coconut, spices, orange zest, salt, and pepper. Melt the ghee**, and add it to the dry mixture along with the juice of an orange, vanilla extract, and the maple syrup. Spread the mixture evenly on two sheet pans lined with parchment. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until everything is golden in color, making sure to stir the granola every 5 minutes. 

Just look at those glittering almonds!!

A little seedy, datey, yogurty, appley close up.

Notes:

Deviating from the original recipe is fun and really easy. I swap different extracts/flavorings in for the vanilla i.e. rosewater, almond, orange blossom. I also change up the spices to match. Once I added cooked pureed beetroot. Lavender buds are wonderful as well. Just stick to a theme and be creative!!

**To make ghee, add 1lb of butter to a medium saucepan. Melt and cook butter on medium until it foams and the dairy solids burn on the bottom of the pan. Strain through a cheesecloth and store in a jar at room temperature. 

P.S. ghee is so so so yummy in everything. Make chicken, rice, cookies, really ANYTHING with it. I made ghee snickerdoodles over the holidays and they were fab. 

Much love,

Genevive