Good morning! Isn’t it the most wonderful thing to have good neighbors that you become true friends with that you can count on and share with? I hadn’t had nor made zucchini bread since I lived in Indiana, then I shared some dessert with the neighbors and they gave us, in turn, a gorgeous, plump, huge zucchini from their garden! I can’t tell you how excited I was to receive this! So tickled pink that I made this bread the very next day! My recipe makes 2 nice-sized loaves, so of course the neighbors got one, too! Share and share alike! So much fun!

Almost as fun as eating this incredibly moist, dense, rich bread loaded with goodies and spices! I originally found the basic formula for this recipe in an old church cookbook that I had purchased at a garage sale. Though the basic recipe was pretty good, it was really lacking in spices and of course all of the goodies! It had called for all white sugar as well, and I prefer to use a combo of white and dark brown sugar myself. So this recipe has morphed into my own after so many changes I wouldn’t even know where to start! And you can start to smell my additions of vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg almost immediately after popping into the oven! Soon followed by an intoxicating euphoria of my add-ins of chocolate, pecans and sweet – tart golden raisins! If you’ve never bought golden raisins, you’re in for a real treat! To me, they taste more like mini dried, but moist, apples! I once fooled a co-worker who SWORE he despised raisins. I put golden raisins into a batch of bar cookies and shared them at work, and he thought they were bits of apple and loved them! He was quite surprised and amused when I told him what they really were! So if you have someone in your family that doesn’t happen to like raisins, this may be a solution! 

So check your stores and farmer’s markets right now for zucchinis*, (*I prefer the large variety compared to the little skinny ones for the 2 recipes I make with them), as they’re in season and such a versatile vegetable to have fun with! Who would think you could make such a sweet decadent bread from such a funny looking vegetable? 

Well, our bread is almost gone now, and I’m already dreaming of another one! I so hope they share one more before the summer is over! I guess I’ll just have to bribe them with more goodies! 😉   I do hope you try this recipe soon, it’s one of my very best, easy, sweet quick breads! And although this bread freezes extremely well, brighten someone’s day and share the other one! Kind gestures go a long way! Have a wonderful day all! 🙂  

SPICY ZUCCHINI BREAD with CHOCOLATE CHIPS, PECANS & GOLDEN RAISINS

Makes 2 – 8 1/2 x 4 1/4 x 2 1/2 loaves

3 extra large eggs

1 cup canola or vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups zucchini, peeled, quartered lengthwise and center of seeds cut away, and grated

3 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbl. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 cup chopped pecans

1 cup (lightly packed) golden raisins

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

In large bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Beat in next 4 ingredients, then beat in grated zucchini. (I peel the zucchini with a veggie peeler, then slice in half lengthwise, and then again into quarters. Lay a pice on it’s side and just cut off inner seed part lengthwise. Then grate. I run them through my food processor’s grating disk. Much easier and faster than grating it all by hand.) 

In another bowl, whisk dry ingredients, except nuts, raisins and chips, until well combined. Add to wet mixture and mix well. Now fold in pecans, golden raisins and chocolate chips.

Bake in 325 degree oven for 65-70 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean, in 2 greased and floured bread loaf pans. (*Grease and flour entire insides of pans, not just bottoms as most sweet breads call to do.) 

Let cool 5 minutes, loosen sides with butter knife, turn out onto cooling rack to cool completely. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and store in fridge.