Mummy's zucchini bread

My mom's been making this zucchini bread almost all my life. The original recipe came from a cookbook which was compiled by my paternal grandfather's side of the family and given out at a family reunion back in 1982. I think the original recipe came from my great aunt. My mom tweaked it a tad and this is how she (and I) make it.

4 C coarsely shredded zucchini (do not shred in blender)*
3 C all purpose flour
1 C vegetable oil
1 T plus 1 t vanilla
1 T ground cinnamon
1/2 t baking powder
2 C sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t baking soda
1 C chopped nuts (optional; my mom always made it without).

*I always shred my zucchini with a grater. My mom does hers in a food processor, when we were little she would say "time for flying zucchini!" (Yeah, we're odd). I'm thinking I might be able to use the Magic Bullet as well, but I've never tried.

Heat oven to 325. Grease/Pam bottoms only of two 9 x 5 x 3 loaf pans. Blend all ingredients on low speed 1 minute, scraping bowl constantly. Beat on medium speed one minute. Pour into pans. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 50-60 mins. Cool 10 mins in pans, then remove from pans and cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I love dark chocolate. Love. With hearts and stars and rainbows and little fluffy koala bears. Ones that don't have chlamydia, even.

3/4 c cocoa powder
2 2/3 c powdered sugar
6 tbs butter
several tablespoons of milk
1 tsp vanilla

Combine cocoa and powdered sugar. Combine half of the dry mixture to the butter, and cream. Alternate remaining dry mixture with one tbs at a time of milk as needed, until mixture reaches the desired consistancy. Beat in vanilla.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Be careful, this stuff is super sweet. This recipe makes enough to frost a 9x13" cake or two 8" rounds.

1/3 c creamy peanut butter
1/4 c milk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
4.5 c sifted powdered sugar

Beat the peanut butter in a bowl until it's fluffy. And 2 c powdered sugar, mixing until well blended. Add the vanilla and milk. Beat in the remaining sugar.

At Steven's Request

Because you are DAMN FINE (heh). Anyway... Buttermilk Chocolate Cake That Never Dries Out, Ever. Recipe as follows.

1 c buttermilk
2 tsp baking soda
2 c white sugar
2 eggs
1/4 c cocoa powder*
1/2 c vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla
1 c boiling water
2 c flour (recipe says all-purpose, but...)

* I usually use Hershey's Special Dark because... that is just how I roll.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Grease and flour bottom of 9x13" pan.
2. In a medium bowl, combine: buttermilk and baking soda. Set aside in a warm place. I usually cover it and put it on the stovetop, which works fine since I cook with gas and the stove is always warm.
3. In a seperate bowl, mix together: sugar, eggs, cocoa powder, oil, and vanilla and stir until well blended. Or if you're Amy and you're fancy, you can use your KitchenAid mixer. Stir in the boiling water and gradually add the flour. Add the buttermilk mixture last.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for ... actually, the recipe says 30 minutes, my cakes have NOT set in that amount of time. It might just be my stove. But cakes are finished when the edges pull away from the pan and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool and frost.

I used peanut butter frosting (recipe to follow) and dark chocolate buttercream (ditto) and they were good both ways. Though the pb frosting is really quite insanely sweet, even my kids were like, "Whoa... I think I need a glass of water and a nap."

I am thinking maybe I will make one of these and bring it in for Shane's birthday, what says you?

Really. REALLY good banana bread.

My aunt (my mom's sister) sent me this recipe by email several years ago. SHE got it from my Aunt Anne, her brother's wife. My Uncle is the editor of the Seattle P-I and I'm not sure if he got it from his work, or something else...but it comes from a b&b in KY (as noted at the end of the recipe). This banana bread recipe is sooooooo. Good. I actually thought of entering it in the county fair; when I eat this stuff, I swoon. I found that using the little bananas (the ones that say they are from Colombia) make the best bread but I think any ones would work fine.

BEST BANANA BREAD
MAKES 2 LARGE LOAVES

• 2 cups mashed banana
• 1 cup strong, black coffee
• 1 1/2 cups melted butter
• 1 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons almond extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• Grated rind from one orange
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Moosh together in a mixing bowl the mashed bananas and coffee. In a separate bowl, mix the butter and sugar. Then add the eggs one at a time mixing in vanilla and almond extract between additions. Stir in the salt and baking soda.

In the third bowl (we didn't say this was easy did we?), mix together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and orange rind. Combine the ingredients into 1 bowl, mix gently then stir in the raisins and walnuts.

Grease 2 loaf pans and bake at 350 degrees 40-50 minutes. We usually eat one loaf immediately and wrap and freeze the other.

The following recipe is from the Helton House Bed-and-Breakfast in Owensboro, Ky.:

Holy Crap Bars

Okay, they are actually called chocolate chip toffee bars, but HOLY CRAP they are good! We made these tonight, the recipe is from my Hershey cookbook but I've seen it posted all over the web so I think I am not violating any copyrights.

2 1/3 c flour
2/3 c packed brown sugar
3/4 c butter or margarine
1 egg, slightly beaten
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans)
14 oz sweetened condensed milk
1 1/3 cups Heath toffee bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13" baking pan.

1. Combine flour and sugar in large bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add egg, mix well. Stir in 1 1/2 c of the chocolate chips and the chopped nuts. Set aside 1 1/2 cups of the mixture.
2. Press remaining mixture on the bottom of the greased baking pan, and bake for 10 minutes.
3. Pour condensed milk over hot crust. Set aside 1/4 cup of the toffee bits, sprinkle the remainder over the condensed milk. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture and the reserved chocolate chips over top of the toffee.
4. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle the reserved toffee chips over top. Let cool and cut into bars.