Zucchini Bread With Cherries, Chocolate & Cardamom
This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. All opinions are my own.
Whelp it’s that time of the year folks…Zucchini is flooding the farm and our CSA members and farmers market customers are receiving a lot of it these days. In all honesty, I’m actually super excited about the abundance of zucchini and I’ve got a lot of recipes coming up that celebrate this seasonal gem. But before I get to those, let’s talk about this tasty quick bread. This recipe packs in a lot of tasty ingredients including fresh, in-season cherries, dark chocolate, Oregon hazelnuts and local honey. It’s absolutely divine and tastes great toasted up in the morning with a dab of butter and a cup of strong coffee. I hope you all enjoy this summertime loaf as much as we do! Cheers to the harvest!
Zucchini Bread with Cherries, Chocolate & Cardamom
Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 55 minutes Serves: 1 loaf
- 1/2 cup hazelnut oil (or another neutral tasting oil)
- 1/2 cup honey
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups coarsely grated zucchini (about 1 medium-sized zucchini)
- 1/2 cup fresh cherries, pitted and sliced in half
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour (bob's red mill)
- 3/4 cup whole wheat flour (bob's red mill)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, chopped
- a few hefty pinches of turbinado sugar for topping (optional)
Preparation
- Place an oven rack in the middle position of your oven and pre-heat the oven to 350F.
- In a large bowl, beat together the oil and honey. Stir in the eggs, vanilla and zucchini. Mix until well combined then gently fold in the cherries.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, cardamom, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients (being careful to not over-mix) and add the chocolate chips and hazelnuts.
- Pour the batter into a lightly greased 8 1/2-by-4 1/2-inch loaf pan. Sprinkle the top of the loaf with the turbinado sugar (if using). Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean, 50-60 minutes. Cool the zucchini bread in the pan for about 15 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Cooking times will very from kitchen to kitchen
Thanks for the recipe using honey for sweetening
1/2 cup of hazelnut oil! Decadent!!
Would love to make. Any suggestions for the gluten free folks? 3/4 cup of my gluten free blend and what for the wheat flour part?
Same question!!!
I haven’t tried these gluten free so I’m sorry I can’t confirm how’d they turn out or what flours to use…
Made as muffins. Yummers! Thank you
how long did u bake the muffins – 25min?
Do you suppose that the two flours could be eliminated by using whole wheat pastry flour? Thanks. Looks and sounds delicious, making it tomorrow.
Yep! I think that’d work just fine!
Did you squeeze the liquid from the zucchini before measuring?
just made a loaf last night, oh my, sweet bread. thanks for the recipe it’s a gem!
What if you don’t have all purpose flour just whole wheat flour? Can i just double the whole wheat?
Would you ever share the nutritional information?
Is there anything I can replace the cherries with?
This bread is absolutely delicious!! I just made it and melted after my first bite!! I think is everything I dreamed of and more. I skipped the hazelnuts because we had none and I don’t like them much to begin with. I also added 1/2 tsp of cinnamon. While I think it’s perfect, I would probably cut the cardamom back if I were baking this for someone who’s not used to the taste of cardamom. Or maybe I wouldn’t and hope instead that I would get more of it to myself. 😉
So happy to hear you loved it! And yep, there’s a healthy amount of cardamom in there but that’s just how I like it (and sometimes that may mean more for me!!) Your addition of cinnamon sounds lovely and I’m glad you left the hazelnuts out since you’re not a fan. Great adaptations!
How do you store the bred?
wrap it in foil and keep on the counter for 3-5 days or keep in your fridge for 2 weeks. Or you can freeze it….
If I want to go gluten free can Almond Flour and either Coconut Flour or Oat Flour be substituted?
Unfortunately, those flours act completely different than grain flours and won’t work as a 1:1 conversion. I’m sure there are gluten free zucchini breads online though! I’m sorry this recipe won’t work for you.
I adapted it a bit … used Greek yogurt in place of half the oil, added cocoa powder to make the entire bread chocolate, and added 1 teaspoon cinnamon and it turned out absolutely FANTASTIC! When I mixed up the batter, I wondered if I had enough flour, but it was totally perfect. I will be making this again and again. Thank you thank you for an amazing recipe. Look for a link back from Sumptuous Spoonfuls. 🙂
so happy to hear!!
[…] MY kinda zucchini bread. (Adapted from Dishing up the Dirt. […]
I have a never ending supply of zucchini and had a faint memory of this recipe. I dug it out and decided to double it up and cook in a 9×13. The baking time was shorter — maybe 45 minutes? It’s as delicious as I remembered! I left it in the dish to cool and covered with plastic (not my favorite, but best at preserving freshness) on my counter. Amazingly it is still moist and delicious a week later!
Yes!!! I love hearing this!! Yay
Can frozen cherries be used? Defrost first or no?
Yep. Just thaw them first!