Garlic Cheese Zucchini Bread

 I thoroughly enjoyed creating this dish. I was so excited at the idea of combining garlic and cheese with zucchini bread. My foodie instincts were tingling as I prepared the ingredients. And it all was going so well until a small disaster occurred…followed by tears…and then followed by delight from how flavourful this recipe tasted. I will describe how the events panned out, I just need time to…recover. Stay tuned!

Ingredients

• ·         2 cups zucchini, grated
• ·         ½ yellow onion, grated
• ·         2 cups all-purpose flour
• ·         2 tsp baking powder
• ·         ½ tsp baking soda
• ·         1 tsp salt
• ·         2 tsp garlic powder
• ·         2 tsp black pepper
• ·         1 cup 2% milk
• ·         1 egg
• ·         2 tbsp butter, melted
• ·         1 tbsp garlic butter, melted
• ·         2 cups medium cheddar cheese, grated

Preparation

Okay my lovely muffins, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mmmm cozy! And make sure you have some kind of protectant applied to your bread pan to ensure that your batter will not stick. You can either spray the pan with not stick spray or line it with parchment paper…. Or both! If you’re a worrier like me.

Next, grate your onion and zucchini with a fine grater. Ensure that you have cut off both ends of the zucchini. You don’t want to eat that. That is not as appealing. But you can grate the rest of the zucchini with the skin still on. The skin will add a beautiful, vibrant green to your bread. And once these ingredients are grated, add the heap to a piece of paper towel and squeeze out as much of the juices as you can into a bowl. Any excess juices will make your bread very soggy. And then your face will become soggy with tears from the disappointment. Therefore, squeeze out the juices.

Later, add your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda and spices) into a separate bowl, ensuring they are evenly mixed together. Then, add in your grated zucchini, onion and cheddar cheese.

In another bowl combine your eggs, milk and butter. But be careful that your butter has cooled. If you add hot butter to an egg mixture it will turn them into scrambled eggs instead of silky, creamy eggs. Once that is mixed together you can incorporate it into your dry ingredients bowl. I find it is easiest to mix these together with a rubber spatula. You can use the spatula to fold the ingredients into one gorgeous, aromatic batter.

Now, pour your batter into the pan and bake for approximately 40 to 50 minutes. Another technique you can use to ensure your bread is fully baked is to take a wooden tooth pick and insert it into the center of the dough. If your tooth pick comes out clean (no goopy, raw batter) then you know it is well baked.

Okay, here is where the sad, embarrassing part of the story occurred. My bread was looking lovely. It had the perfect peak to it and the top had turned a beautiful golden colour. I knew that the inside was not fully baked yet so I needed to place a sheet of tin foil on the pan to protect the top of the bread from burning/over baking. And did I ever tell you I am a klutz. Learn from this my pupils. I attempted to try to place the tinfoil on the pan without having to take it fully out of the oven. I pulled the baking rack half way out of the oven, trying to hold that with one hand while strategically struggling to apply the foil.

Then, it all went wrong. I lost my grip of the baking rack and to my dismay, watched as the pan slid off the rack and…SPLAT!!!! Onto the ground. Some raw dough leaking from the side of the upside down tin, as if it was blood leaking out of a crime scene. I swore. I was sad. My husband heard the commotion and came running to try to help. And what he found was an angry beast towering over her disaster. When he made an effort to try to lift my spirits, I snapped. And then apologized immensely for losing my beans. I felt like Julia from the movie “Julie and Julia” when she dropped her chicken on the floor and had a break down.

After taking a few minutes to calm myself, I double checked with my husband if he would be okay to still eat the bread even though it fell on the ground. We agreed on the five second rule, I scooped up the remains and placed it back in the oven to finish baking. My beautiful dome was now destroyed, but the bread still had a unique beauty of its own. You could say it had a face only a mother could love. And I was its mother, and it was my child. Through all the batter, sweat and tears, I loved that ugly bread. And now…we eat…

Taste Test

Holy cow! Was this bread ever good. You want a unique, wonderfully textured garlic bread then this is the recipe for you! The outside had a sensational crunch, while the inside was perfectly fluffy. Mind you this is a heavy cake. You could eat just a slice on its own and you would be full. It’s salty, it’s so, so garlicky, accompanied by well-balanced spices and oniony-cheesy goodness. This is a rich indulgent bread that will go well with any meal. And even though it already has butter in the dough, it still is awesomely enhanced when you butter the fresh bread. Watching that silky pad melt on your warm slice, and the starches just suck in that creaminess. This is heaven my friends. Utter heaven. In a mouthful.

Enjoy!