Sweet Potato and Zucchini Bread

You have probably seen the sales in the produce department, zucchini is everywhere and you can find a lot of it really cheap. Last night I sauteed two zucchini to compliment a fish entree. I have two zucchini left in my kitchen that I'd like to use up in another way. Pioneer Woman posted about zucchini cakes that looked absolutely wonderful, but I was having a sweet craving today and decided to make zucchini bread tonight after I saw this post on Simply Recipes. As I continued to research zucchini bread recipes I came across Sweet Potato and Zucchini Bread on epicurious. PERFECT! Jim had bought a random sweet potato recently and I had no idea what I was going to do with it. Here is what I gathered for my potato and squash bread.


2 cups all purpose flour, 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon (I used more, then added a pinch of clove and pinch of nutmeg), 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 cups sugar (I used half brown sugar), 3/4 cup vegetable oil, 3 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 1/2 cups grated zucchini, 1 1/2 cups grated peeled sweet potato, 1 cup chopped walnuts (which I didn't have.)

The sweet potato Jim picked out was huge and yielded double what I needed for this recipe, so I just doubled the ingredients across the board and made several different forms of this bread: muffins, loaf and pan.


I began by using my peeler to take the dark skin off of the sweet potato. If you aren't careful you can skin some of your hands as well.
This is what my potato looked like once it was all cleaned.
I started to grate the potato by hand and then realized I had this nifty cuisinart attachment that shredded the potato really fast and painless.
The two zucchini shredded so beautifully using the cuisinart.

Next I mixed the sugar with brown sugar, eggs and added the vegetable oil.

Once smooth I poured the sugar mixture into the veggies. Those beautiful healthy veggies drowned in sugar, eggs and mexican vanilla...yum.

Once this is well mixed I move onto the dry ingredients.

I used whole wheat flour and I could actually taste it in the finished bread, so even though it is healthier, I think next time I would use regular bleached flour. To the dry ingredients I added an extra pinch of nutmeg and clove. Why not?

Mixing the dry ingredients into the sugary vegetable mixture wasn't easy. I added about a cup of dry mixture at a time and then whipped and whipped until combined.

It took a while, but eventually you will get it all incorporated and it will have a really rich and thick constancy.I poured some batter in a small pan, made six large muffins and had enough batter for a small loaf of zucchini bread. I baked at 350 degrees for various times. The muffins finished in 45 minutes, the loaf took a full hour and the small pan took around 30 minutes. These came out really moist with a nice crunchy crust on top. Of course, they are best warm. My dad would probably add a little butter and pop in the microwave.