Welcome to the inaugural blog post of cheese all that.
This is my first foray into blogging and I’m so happy that you’re here.
Now, let’s set a few things straight.
Number one: not all recipes are going to have cheese. Don’t get me wrong, obviously I love cheese. It’s one of the things I love most in life. But the blog title is purely a good pun.
Number two: like a good researcher and businessperson, we (I) should lay out our (my) objectives here. There are a couple:
- I wanted a place where I could keep — and share — recipes that actually worked for me.
- I needed a creative outlet to distract myself from politics. I gained 5 pounds in the two weeks after inauguration day. I considered calling this blog Rage Cooking, but realized that probably doesn’t have the same mass appeal as a cheese pun.
On that note, let’s get baking.
Sometimes, you need something sweet that also uses up random things in your fridge.
Like a half a can of coconut milk. Or a small zucchini. (I swear that’s what this photo is.)
I think you know where this is going…
Coconut Zucchini Bread
Adapted from the New York Times’ adaptation of Bill Granger’s coconut bread, via smitten kitchen
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup light coconut milk (about a half a can)
- ¾ cup shredded zucchini (about 1 small zucchini)
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 to 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup honey
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut
Instructions
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Brown the butter: in a small saucepan, heat butter over medium-high heat, whisking continuously. The butter will foam up and then settle down – keep whisking. After a few minutes, butter will start to change color and smell – once you smell a nuttiness, rather than just delicious butter smells, and start to see some brown flecks rising to the top of the bubbles – or in the bottom of the pot (depending on color of your pot) – remove from heat immediately. Careful not to let the butter burn! Pour into a heat-safe bowl and set aside to cool for a few minutes, while you get the rest of the bread together.
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Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
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In a medium bowl, mix eggs, milk, zucchini, honey and vanilla.
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In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda salt and cinnamon first, then add the brown sugar and coconut. Mix thoroughly, and create a space in the center for the wet ingredients.
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Pour in egg/milk/zucchini mixture and stir wet and dry ingredients until just combined. Add butter and stir again just until mixture is smooth-ish.
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Spray or butter a 9x5 in loaf pan, and pour batter into pan. Spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick poked into the middle comes out clean – I took mine out at an hour, and it was beautifully moist. Yours may take a little longer, depending on your oven. Once done, cool in the pan 5-10 minutes on a cooling rack before taking bread out of the pan.