Blueberry Lemon Zucchini Bread

Quick, describe the flavor of zucchini! There’s not much to say, right. Zucchini are good food, and practically free, however, so many of us are happy to use its culinary neutrality to help carry other flavors. I particularly like to do this with baked goods, and quick bread is the first place I go with zucchini. I like the way it carries spices and pecans, chocolate, and whole grains. Recently I used zucchini to help bring sunny summer fun to quick bread loaves with lemon and blueberries.

This flavor variation on my usual zucchini quick bread was a huge success. I love lemon and blueberry together, and they both came through in the taste department to make these loaves delicious. Lemon zest carries lots of flavor through baked goods, and I used the zest of a whole lemon in this recipe. The fresh blueberries made little pockets of bursting sweetness while the zucchini stayed fairly quiet as it usually does.

I also really liked the appearance of each slice of this sweet treat. In addition to the big flashes of blue from the berries, there are flecks of green from the zucchini and yellow from the lemon zest. A summer confetti without adding sprinkles!

Now that the zucchini from my garden is starting to pile up like cordwood, I’m super excited that I have a delicious new way to enjoy zucchini quick bread. With an adjustment in baking time, I think this batter could be baked as muffins or in a cake pan as well (perhaps with the streusel from this recipe on top), so summertime treats can just keep coming out of the oven. And I’m sure we can count on mild-mannered zucchini to continue to be a good sport and keep playing along.

Blueberry Lemon Zucchini Bread

3 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 lemon (you will use both juice and zest)

3 eggs

1 ½ cups sugar

½ cup canola oil

2/3 cup buttermilk

2 cups shredded zucchini

1 ½ cups fresh blueberries (or use frozen; do not thaw)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease or spray with cooking spray two 8 x 4-inch bread pans. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir well with a whisk to combine. Add the lemon zest and work it into the flour mixture with your fingers until it is well-distributed and not clumped together. Set aside.

3. In a medium-size bowl, whisk the egg and sugar together for a minute or two, or until they are thick and pale in color. Whisk in the oil until the mixture is very smooth. Whisk in the buttermilk and the juice of the lemon. There should be about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, but this measurement does not matter much.

4. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Stir in the zucchini and blueberries just until they are well-distributed.

5. Distribute the batter evenly between the two prepared bread pans. Smooth out the batter in each pan. Bake at 350F for 45-50 minutes. When the bread is done, a wooden skewer or pick inserted in the center will come out with just a few crumbs sticking to it, not a glob of wet batter.

6. Cool the bread in the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack. Slice to serve.

Makes two 8-inch loaves. Wrap loaves in freezer-safe bags and freeze for up to 3 months.

Other recipes like this one:Zucchini Buttermilk Bread with Pecans, Chocolate Zucchini Quick Bread, Blueberry Banana Quick Bread

One year ago: 15 August Favorites

Blueberry Banana Bread

In the later days of summer, we do this thing with zucchini where we shred it up and stuff it into baked goods or meatballs or whatever, because we don’t know what else to do with it. We’re far more responsible with our blueberries, however, or at least I am. I like to add them into baked goods where they weren’t before, not because I don’t know what to do with them, but because I think they can make those baked goods even better.

That’s just what I did with my basic banana quick bread. An added cup (or more if you want) of blueberries makes a good snack staple into a seasonal treat. Not that you would have to make it just when blueberries are in season. Since they freeze so well, or are easy to buy in a frozen state at the average supermarket, I recommend stirring some blueberries into your banana bread all year round. And frozen blueberries do work just as well as fresh in this recipe.

 

I like the way blueberries keep to themselves when you stir them into a batter and bake it. They hold their shape and don’t affect the moisture of the final product excessively. Even though they don’t ooze out everywhere, however, they do lend their own berry character to a recipe. If they’re a bit sour, they’re tempered by a sweet batter, while extra-sweet blueberries just make something sweet even more flavorful.

This is really a very simple variation on a basic recipe, and I think you could stir blueberries into other classic recipes as well. That’s pretty much what I did with this coffee cake, which I converted from an apple cake, and I’m beginning to wonder whether my next blueberry purchase could find a home in a batch of this zucchini bread. You know, to keep all that under-respected zucchini company.

Blueberry Banana Quick Bread

6 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg

¼ cup milk

¼ cup plain or vanilla yogurt (full fat or reduced fat)

1 2/3 cup mashed banana (about 3 large bananas)

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (no need to thaw if frozen)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Melt the butter and set aside to cool.

2. In a large bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. Whisk or sift together to mix well. Set aside.

3. Whisk the egg and melted butter together until smooth. Whisk in the milk and yogurt. Whisk in the mashed banana.

4. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture. Stir with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon just until all the dry ingredients are moistened. Gently stir in the blueberries.

5. Spray a 9-inch bread pan with cooking spray or grease it with butter or oil. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the bread comes out with just a few moist crumbs.

6. Remove the bread from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

Makes 1 9-inch loaf.

Other recipes like this one: Banana Quick Bread, Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins, Blueberry Coconut Muffins

Coming soon: Easy Apricot Jam

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Here’s one more summer fruit recipe before things get all apple-y and pumpkin-y and cranberry-y. I had plenty of blueberries that I froze earlier this summer, and I wanted a quick and easy cake to stir them into. I thought this favorite Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake might be adaptable, so I tried it out.

In my first attempt, I left the cinnamon in the cake, and found it, while good, not quite as welcoming to the blueberries as I would like. I tried it a second time with lemon zest in the batter instead of cinnamon and it was a hit. Deliciously sweet and fruity, fragrant with lemon, and moistened by just enough blueberries.

I used a different streusel topping for this blueberry cake than I did for the apple cinnamon cake. I wanted a richer, crumblier one, like the one I used on these muffins. In fact, it’s exactly like that one with just a pinch of cinnamon in place of the ginger. It was just as fabulous on the cake as it was on the muffins.

Not only do I have a simple blueberry cake to add to my brunch repertoire (and afternoon snack arsenal as well), but I also now know how easy it is to adapt this recipe for whatever fruits or spices are in season. I can’t wait to make it with orange zest and cranberries, or Pumpkin Pie Spice and dried fruit. It was tough to snap a few photos of this cake before we ate it all, and I think I can come up with some variations that present the same problem.

Blueberry Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Crumble Topping

Frozen blueberries are just fine in this cake. Do not thaw them before stirring them into the batter.

For the topping:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

3 tablespoons brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch fine salt

For the cake:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

1 large egg

¾ cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

1. To prepare the topping, combine the 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, cold butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and pinch of salt in a small bowl. Work in the butter pieces with a fork or with your fingers until the mixture is crumbly and forms clumps when squeezed together. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. (This can be made a few days ahead.)

2. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray an 8-inch square baking pan or dish with cooking spray or grease it with butter or oil.

3. To make the cake batter, melt the 2 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Set aside to cool.

4. In a medium-size bowl, combine the 1 ½ cups flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and lemon zest. Whisk together to combine well. Set aside.

5. In another medium-size bowl, lightly beat the egg. Slowly whisk in the melted butter. Whisk in the milk and vanilla extract.

6. Pour the egg mixture into the flour mixture and stir until most of the dry ingredients have been moistened. Stir in the blueberries.

7. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Sprinkle the crumble topping evenly over the top.

8. Bake at 350 F for 40-45 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of the cake comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Cool on a wire rack until cool enough to cut and enjoy. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 9-16 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Blueberry Muffin Cake with Crumb Topping, Apple Cinnamon Coffee Cake, Cherry Almond Loaf Cake