Man, I’m feeling bummed right now. I would guess that my mom is too based on her tears when I dropped her off at the airport this morning. She starts to cry, then I start to cry…it ain’t pretty! I think I even saw a nearby taxi driver shed a tear.
We always have such a great time together and then when it’s all over I feel a pit in my stomach when she has to leave. I’ve already called her once since I got home from the airport. I may look like a grown woman, but I’m still a mama’s girl at heart. ;)
The good news is, we’ll always have this incredible oil-free Zucchini loaf to remember the good times and great food on this trip!
I even sent her off with a big slice to take on the plane with her. It comforts me knowing that she has my yummy homemade food to eat instead of cardboard plane food. I’m a strong believer in wholegrain carbs when you’re feeling blue!
Plus, carbs are addicting which means that she’ll have to come back to visit real soon…right?
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Oil-Free Zucchini Walnut Raisin Loaf with Cinnamon Streusel
Adapted from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole grain spelt flour (or white whole wheat flour)
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 cup sugar (I use organic cane sugar)
- 1/3 cup raisins
- 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
- 1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water, mixed and set aside for 5 minutes)
- 1 & 1/4 cup shredded zucchini (leave skin on), packed
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tbsp pure maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener)
- 1 & 1/4 cups non-dairy milk (I used vanilla almond milk)
- Cinnamon Streusel topping: 2 tsp non-dairy margarine/butter, 1 tbsp coarse sugar (like turbinado), 1 tbsp flour, 1/2 tsp cinnamon
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F (see note below). Mix the flax egg and set aside. Oil a regular-sized loaf pan and then line it with parchment paper so you can easily pull out the loaf when cooled.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the dry ingredients (flour, powders, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, raisins, and walnuts).
3. In another large bowl, combine the wet ingredients (flax egg, shredded zucchini, lemon zest & juice, maple syrup, milk).
4. Add wet ingredients to dry and stir until just mixed. Be careful not to overmix the batter as spelt flour is delicate.
5. Spoon the batter into prepared loaf pan and spread out evenly. Prepare the cinnamon streusel and then sprinkle on top. Bake for about 45-60 minutes at 350F or until toothpick comes out clean and the loaf gently springs back when pressed.
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None of us could believe that this loaf does not contain oil! Magic trick #2 this weekend. (See Magic Trick #1: The eggless fluffy chocolate cupcake!)
The shredded zucchini does a wonderful job giving this loaf moisture..and you don’t taste the zucchini at all. You can see beautiful flecks of green though!
It’s a very dense loaf, but not in a bad way! Whole grain spelt flour tends to make dense breads, but I just love the nutty flavour of spelt so I don’t mind. The walnuts, streusel, and raisins add just the right amount of sweetness and crunch.
We’ve been enjoying this not-too-sweet loaf for breakfast or as an afternoon snack. If you like your baked goods sweet you might want to add another 1/4 cup of sugar, but we thought it was just perfect for a healthy snack.
It’s wonderful spread with Earth Balance, nut butter and jam…or just enjoyed plain!
On that note, I think I may need some endorphin-inducing carbs to cheer me up…
Looks yummy! I don’t have spelt flour on hand but I have some Bobs Red Mill gluten free baking flour and I also have some oat flour. Can I substitute either of those for the spelt flour..or a combo of those two?
Hey Bethany, I haven’t tried it any other way, so I cant say for sure. Spelt flour can be tricky to sub sometimes, but let me know if you try it out!
I actually used the oat flour and it’s still in the oven now – I put it in at 375 for 40 mins and checked it and it needed more time, then I checked after another 10 and thought it was done, but when I cut into it, it was really raw/doughy on the bottom half so I put it in for another 20 mins, still raw! So right now it’s in the oven for another 20 mins…hoping that it will cook through because it smells so yummy and the top tastes great! haha Any suggestions?
Update – The Oat Flour was a Fail…..hahaha. Thankfully I still have a ton of zucchini to use up from my garden! Going to grab some spelt flour and try this out -as written – asap! :-) Thanks again for posting this recipe!
Sorry, one more thing – Is there any way to salvage the doughy disaster vs. tossing it out? I hate wasting food – Let me know if there is anything I can do with it! Thanks again! <3
Hi! I made this bread the other day and it smelled amazing in the oven…I went with your suggestion of baking at 375 for a bit longer and had a bit of trouble getting the bread really done! My oven does tend to run a little warmer than it says, so maybe it really needed the 400? Took forever, ended up not being 100 % baked through in the centre, but still delicious! I would definitely make this again, but I think I’d make it into muffins to make sure it cooks through! What size loaf pan did you use?
OK So I tried this again with Spelt flour this time! I set my oven to 375 checked it after an hour and it still wasn’t cooked through, so I checked it every 10 mins after that and took it out at 1 hour 30 mins. Still not completely cooked through and this time I followed the recipe exactly. It’s cooling right now, I didn’t want to leave it in any longer because the outside was getting tough. Any suggestions? Not sure what I did wrong this time.
Hi, I made this recipe and cooked it for an hour and a half and it was still wet and goey inside. I followed the recipe exactly as it is written. I compared it to other zucchini bread recipes to try and figure out what was wrong and the only thing different was the amount of plant based milk. Your recipe calls for 1 and 1/4 cups and most recipes call for half that amount or less. I also used spelt flour but I have never had this problem with spelt in other recipes. Do you think that is the problem or is it a typo in your recipe? Thank you so much. Cat
Hi cat, I’m going to work on this recipe – thanks for letting me know! I’m sorry you had problems with it.
I know this recipe is older, but I keep coming back to it. Absolutely deslish and a crowd pleaser.. You are awesome, keep great recipes coming :)
Hello,
I was looking for a zucchini bread recipe . I found you’res and made it today.
I am starting to eat clean foods. Your Ideas are great. I loved the zucchini bread.
I could not let it cool down enough,before I had to try it. Oh how wonderful .
I even ate the parchment paper by accident . I had two more pieces of bread and I did not top off the bread with the icing. Lol I am having the happiest day looking at all of your food.
Your recipes are so great. Thank You, for sharing them! : )
I would love to try this, but I can’t take that much fructose…any other things, I could use instead of the raisins? more nuts maybe?
GREAT!!!! I just decided to become vegan about a week ago and this turned to be amazing ! im so excited :)
Where can I find the nutritional information on this loaf? It’s delicious :)
I made this and it turned out great! Due to some people saying it was too wet and never cooked through, I decreased the non-dairy milk to 1 cup. I omitted the lemon zest and replaced the raisins with chocolate chips (because a quick-bread loaf isn’t complete without chocolate chips). I love that it’s oil-free, which allows me to not feel guilty eating this for breakfast! (Which I just did! Yum!)
Can I use cow’s milk? It’s all I have in the house at the moment.
Another great recipe Angela. I only had cane sugar so my crumble wasn’t crumbly so I added some oats to it. It was great.
I love your recipes, they’re always so reliable!!
I recently developed a recipe that was very much inspired by this one (I linked you on my blog), I hope you check it out!
Love this recipe! I have made it many times. Today my teenage daughter pulled out this recipe and with a very big hint suggested I make it today ;) I did of course, along with a double batch of the Eat your greens Detox Soup from your cookbook! I have made my own modifications to your recipe. I have a convection oven. I place the loaf at 375F for one hour and this bakes it just right. I also double your spices 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg. Our family really enjoys this loaf along with many of your recipes which never fails to disappoint! Thank you!
Wow! Once again I am blown away by one of your recipes! These days literally everything I make comes from your website or your book. I trust it all because it’s always spot on and delicious! For this recipe I omitted the streusel and I used chopped dates instead of raisins and it was so good! This is a perfectly moist, not to sweet loaf and a great way to incorporate zucchini into your breakfast!
This looks amazing! Any suggestions on substitutions on the flax egg, I don’t have ground flax, but have flax flour, chia seeds, and hemp seeds?
Hello. I’m new to your blog, but I already have bookmarked a dozen recipes! I don’t have a load tin, can I use an 8″ cake tin instead. Would I have to adjust the barking time? Thanks. I look forward to trying out a lot of your recipes.
Hi! I used white whole wheat flour, and followed the recipe exactly. I had to bake it in a loaf tin for almost an hour. The outside was done, and kind of hard, but the inside was moist. It wasn’t really cake like, in that it didn’t cut cleanly, even though the toothpick I used to check it came out clean. Have I done something wrong, or is it supposed to be this moist on the inside? I have to say, it tastes great! Is not too sweet, which I love, and there is no oil! I’ll definitely make this more often if I can sort out the moisture issue
Hi Angela!
Happy 4th! I would like to know if I can use gluten-free flour for this recipe and for the chocolate zucchini muffin recipe? Thanks!
Made it tonight, gluten free (only flour I had available, and had a huge zucchini waiting for me when I returned from vacation). Used half brown rice flour and half buckwheat. Turned out great.. A little bit crumbly, but not terrible.