Zucchini's Last Stand

Okay, I promise this is my last zucchini post.  I know, three posts dedicated to using up my zucchini is quite enough, especially when one considers how few posts we've had overall this summer, but these two sweet zucchini recipes were really good so I feel the need to share. 

First I made a classic zucchini nut bread http://www.marthastewart.com/341354/zucchini-nut-bread.  The things I liked about this recipe were that it was simple, didn't require sifting dry ingredients or even really mixing them in a separate bowl, and made two loaves which is good because I was able to put nuts in one and leave one without for the kids.

After having tried so many zucchini recipes this summer, I finally wised up and brought out the food processor to do the shredding for me.  I had enough for the two loaves and several other recipes in a matter of seconds.  Definitely should have thought of this sooner.

 

The recipe called for using cooking spray on the pans and then parchment.  I skipped the parchment and it wasn't needed at all.  Here are my loaves.

The best part was they got this nice sugary crust on the outside which really good.  My kids loved it too.  As I said before I'm not one who thinks that disguising a vegetable in cake makes the cake "healthy" but I guess it's better than a lot of other things they could be eating.

Next, I turned to Martha's sweet zucchini cupcakes http://www.marthastewart.com/317832/sweet-zucchini-cupcakes.  The recipe for the cake was very similar to the zucchini nut bread, but slightly less sweet and, actually, not as good.  The frosting, http://www.marthastewart.com/312920/cream-cheese-frosting however, was really good although I did modify it after reading reviews that complained that it was too buttery.  I changed the butter from 4 tablespoons to 2 which seemed more consistent with other cream cheese frosting recipes out there.  It came out perfectly. 

Yum.  Wish they weren't all gone.

-Jacqui