Whole Wheat Zucchini and Cherry Bread Recipe

Farmers markets are a great test to my self control, a test which I generally fail. Two weeks ago I hit up the Kitsilano Farmers Market and came out with peas, kale, 2lbs of cherries, zucchini, strawberries, raspberries, garlic scapes and one lone bay plant. Realizing how much fruit I had I was determined to make something with cherries to help reduce the bounty.

Since zucchini bread was a favorite of mine as a kid I decided to make a twist on that. We used to add chocolate chips to zucchini bread, but this time I made it a little healthier by reducing the sugar, substituting some whole wheat flour and adding cherries instead of chocolate chips.

The cherries give the zucchini bread a bit of tartness and a lovely colour. Between the vibrant green of the zucchini and the bright red of the cherries it almost seems like something to make at Christmas time rather then the middle of summer. But this time of year is when everyone seems to have too much zucchini and is looking for zucchini recipe ideas. If only zucchini and cherries were in season all year round.

Oh, and umm… I made it all in my new toy, my vita-mix. You see, I can totally justify my expensive new toy, I can make freaking everything in this thing. My blender broke down a few weeks ago and it was the second high end blender that we had gone through in 3 years. At $200ish a pop the Waring blender kept getting part of it’s screws stripped and therefore stopped blending. I have been interested in the vita-mix’s for awhile and it just seemed like a worthy choice since I found such good testaments to them online. Plus I found a local business selling them at a great price. So yeah… I made this in my vita mix, and it worked great, plus it is just so easy to clean.

Print Recipe

Whole Wheat Zucchini and Cherry Bread Recipe

(2 loaves)

2 1/4 cups zucchini, grated or chopped into 1" half moons

3 eggs

3/4 cup oil

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoons salt

1 cup cherries, pitted and roughly chopped

Note: I made this in my vita-mix, if you have one - you can use the instructions from the original recipe here. Otherwise I have adapted this for use with a mixer instead.

Preheat oven to 350F. Prep zucchini by grating it if you haven't already. Either by using the thickest setting on a cheese grater or a food processor's grater attachment. Set aside. In a mixing bowl beat eggs until light and foamy. Add oil, sugar and vanilla and beat to combine. Stir in zucchini and cherries and then remaining dry ingredients. Don't over mix.

Spray two loaf pans with cooking spray or rub with oil. Divide batter between loaf pans. Bake for approximately one hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

This freezes well, wrap in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and make sure it is completely cool before freezing.