Gingery and Moist Zucchini Bread with Poppy Seed and Lemon Crunch Glaze

 I adapted this Zucchini bread from a Food 52 recipe, and this is why the name is so long! The author chose to take a little bit of something from 3 different recipes she liked- the olive oil ingredient from a cake recipe, poppy seeds from another, and the lemon crunch glaze from the last recipe. Here you get all the goodies wrapped in one big package!

This recipe takes a big amount of time and effort, though it is fairly easy to make. The biggest headache is grating a whole zucchini and making sure you squeeze as much liquid and juice from it as you can.

It was a long-er process than normal quick bread, but I found the end product a real treat! And you can say it's basically healthy right??

Alright here's the recipe:

What you need:
serves 4-6
Difficulty level- medium

For the bread:
1 zucchini (about 1 lb)
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tbsp poppy seed
2 tbsp chopped candied ginger
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3/4 cup coconut oil
coconut oil spray

For the lemon crunch glaze:
1/3 cup turbinado sugar or raw sugar
1-2 tsp milk
juice of half a lemon
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. With a cheese grater, grate one whole zucchini. Place the grated zucchini in a small bowl with 1/4 cup sugar. Mix.

3. Place zucchini in a colander and squeeze all the juice out of the zucchini as you can. Set aside.

4. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, and then add the salt, ground ginger, baking powder, baking soda, ground nutmeg, poppy seeds, and the chopped candied ginger. Combine all ingredients to make the dry ingredients.

5. In a large bowl, add your eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest, olive oil and coconut oil. Whisk to combine. These are your wet ingredients.

6. Add your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients slowly. Combine, but don't over mix or the batter will be dry and dense.

7. Now, grab your grated zucchini and add a small amount to the batter at a time. While you're adding it, make sure to squeeze any excess liquid out of the zucchini. Mix zucchini into batter.

You should have a fair amount of zucchini liquid that was squeezed out. I was shocked at how much there was!

8. Spray your loaf pan with coconut oil spray or Pam, and then pour the batter in.

9. Place in oven for 40-45 mins or until a toothpick inserted into the bread comes out clean.

10. In the meantime, make your glaze. Mix your turbinado sugar, milk, lemon juice and confectioners' sugar together. That's it!
11. Once the 40-45 mins is up and your bread is done, set it on the counter to cool.
12. When bread has cooled, generously drizzle lemon crunch glaze ALL over........then enjoy!

See all the yummy ingredients inside? Zucchini, candied ginger, poppy seeds, and then that luscious glaze on top...delicious!!