Lemon Zucchini Bread with Lemon Glaze

For all my love of zucchini, one combination I had not tried until this summer was zucchini and lemon. 

Love. 

The lemon brings out the freshness of the zucchini and compliments it so well.  You’ll enjoy it too, especially because this bread is much healthier for you than a typical quick bread. 

It uses whole wheat flour, applesauce and Greek yogurt to cut down on the oil and reduced sugar. 

Just make sure you bake it longer than you think you might need to because it’s pretty moist with all the yogurt, applesauce and zucchini!  You want that toothpick to come out clean. 

Lemon Zucchini Bread with Lemon Glaze – Adapted from Barbara Bakes

Ingredients

• 2 1/3 C white whole wheat flour
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/3 C applesauce
• 3/4 C plain Greek yogurt
• 3/4 C sugar
• 2 T olive oil
• 1/4 C milk (plus additional, if needed)
• 3 C shredded zucchini
• 1 C powdered sugar, drained
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. lemon zest

Directions

Begin by mixing the dry ingredients together – 2 1/3 C white whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda, and 1/4 tsp. salt.  Whisk well. 

Whisk together 1 egg, 2 tsp. lemon zest, 1 tsp. vanilla, 1/3 C applesauce, 3/4 C Greek yogurt, 3/4 C sugar, and 2 T olive oil in a large bowl. 

Stir in the dry ingredients. 

The batter will be quite thick at this point.  So, stir in 1/4 C milk until it thins a little bit. 

Add in 3 C shredded zucchini; make sure that you have squeezed the excess liquid out of the zucchini!  If the batter still needs thinning, add in up to 1/4 C more milk. 

Pour the batter into a lightly greased loaf pan; 9x5 recommended. Alternatively, you can split the batter into smaller loaf pans.  We do this sometimes for freezing purposes.

Bake at 335 (yes, that’s an unusual temperature) for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  If you do smaller pans, reduce the cooking time to 30 minutes, then check. 

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes.  Then, loosen the bread from the pan and finish cooling on a cooling rack. 

Cool completely. 

Once cool, mix together 1 C powdered sugar with 2 T lemon juice and 1/2 tsp. lemon zest.  You may need to add more/less lemon juice to get the consistency right. Garnish the loaf with the glaze. 

Enjoy!