Tahini Zucchini Bread with Golden Raisins & Almonds

September 4, 2018Recipe Development

After an intensive week of recipe developing and testing, Sunday rolled around with the refrigerator begging to be cleared of an overload of leftover ingredients and overlooked produce. As part of that, Sunday became Zucchini Day, thanks to four large-ish squash languishing in the crisper drawer begging to be turned into zucchini bread (natch) and a whole lot more.

It’s the same story in kitchens everywhere in late summer, when the zucchini are large and plentiful. As a public service, here’s how I made delicious use of mine:

  • 1 batch of these savory Low-Carb Waffles with Zucchini and Cheese. Even if you’re not worried about low-carb anything (and I’m not), these babies are delicious. Plus I’d borrowed a friend’s waffle iron for recipe testing, so a batch of these was first up. I gobbled some for breakfast and froze the rest.
  • 1 extra-large batch of “Melted” Summer Squash. This recipe is on repeat all summer long, since you can use any variety of summer squash — or combo. I had some on tortillas for lunch, some will go on pizza later for dinner later this week and if there’s still any left, I’ll have it on pasta.
  • And there was still more zucchini to make this quick bread, which gets a Middle Eastern spin with tahini, cardamom and a sprinkling of almonds:
Tahini Zucchini Bread with Golden Raisins & Almonds

Tahini Zucchini Bread with Golden Raisins & Almonds

Cooking spray (optional)
9 ounces zucchini (about 1 medium), grated
1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¾ cup coconut sugar
½ cup olive oil
1/3 cup tahini
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
½ cup golden raisins
½ cup sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan with cooking spray or line pan with parchment paper (here’s a good how-to from Food52, and no need to spay the paper with cooking spray).

Scrape zucchini onto a couple of layers of paper towels. Top with another layer of paper towels and press lightly to blot. Let it stand while pulling together the remaining ingredients.

Whisk together flours, baking powder, cardamom, baking soda and salt in a large bowl, creating a well in the center of the dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar, oil, tahini, vanilla and eggs until well combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in zucchini. Pour into center of dry ingredients and stir just until combined. Stir in raisins. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Remove loaf from pan (and here’s where using parchment paper makes it easy to just lift out) and cool completely on a wire rack.

Serves 8

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