Winter warmth

I woke up yesterday and the morning light coming through my window seemed unusually bright. Looking outside, all I saw was white. I'm not sure what triggers this emotion, but I shouted a "woohoo!" and heard my boyfriend giggle downstairs.

I love snow. LOVE snow. It reminds me of so many of my favorite things. Skiing. The UP. Bozeman. Thanksgiving. And for some reason, zucchini bread. Maybe that's because my mom made it at the holidays from zucchini she had in her freezer. Or maybe it's because its so good when eaten straight out of the oven. Whatever the reason, it snowed, so I instinctively wanted to make zucchini bread.

 

I found a really delicious zucchini bread recipe in The Gluten-Free Gourmet Cooks Comfort Foods book. This one is a little less traditional than what I think of when I think zucchini bread, but I'm glad I tried it. I thought the pineapple might have given it a more summer-ish feel, but there's no way zucchini bread can ever be anything but a winter food.

 

Pineapple-Zucchini Bread with Teff Buckwheat

Slightly modified by substituting buckwheat flour for the teff flour, pecans for walnuts, and skipping the lemon peel and raisins:

Dry ingredients

• 1 cup buckwheat flour
• 2 cups featherlight mix
• 3 teaspoons xantham gum
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon cloves

Wet ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable/olive oil blend or melted butter
• 1 bag of frozen-then-thawed shredded zucchini (probably about 2 cups)
• half a 20oz can of chunked pineapple

and... 1 cup-ish of chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a large muffin pan with butter or oil.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl, and set aside.
Using a mixer, beat eggs until frothy, then add sugar and oil. Beat for 2 minutes. Stir in zucchini and pineapple.
Spoon in flour mix and then add pecans.
Bake for 15-25 minutes or until fork comes out clean. Let the muffins sit in the pan for ~5 minutes before taking them out, and then pour the rest of the batter in to make the rest of the muffins.
Makes 12 large muffins.