The Best Zucchini Bread - That's in the world

After staying up all night to watch the ball drop, or in some places a large shoe, a giant peach, or a live possum, you want something super delicious to wake up to. And this, is that somethin' something. Not only is this really tasty, but you can prepare this days before you want to serve. Actually I'll say my peace now, it does taste better if you wait for like two days. The bread sinks down into the tin, and the flavors meld together, I think it's just superb. But please don't wait more than two days because then you will have a different kind of green thing running through your bread, and it won't be the zucchini.

 I was granted the privilege to make this zucchini bread with my legendary Auntie Rosa on my trip to Connecticut this Christmas. We actually made ten loaves which if you do the math equates to about, a lot of work. But it was so worth it. We used her hundred year old recipe which was handed down to her by her mother, and her mother before her. How could this recipe be bad! Anyways like many quickbreads this only takes a few moments to prep so first things first preheat your oven to 325. That's just good time management. 

Using a grater, or a 3000 year old food processor (no offense Auntie Rosa) we are going to shred the zucchini into, well, shreds. Quarter your zucchini into chunks small enough to handle. No need to peel off the skin because zucchini rinds are very thin, plus when we bake them it'll all soften anyways. Once all of your zucchini is prepped we can begin the wet assembly. 

This includes your eggs, sugar, and vegetable oil. Usually I would blanchir my eggs first and then drizzle in the oil, but Auntie Rosa's recipe said otherwise. Who was I to argue with a 100 year old recipe. And for those of you who stumbled on the funny french word in the sentence before, to blanchir means to make white or light in color. In baking, this term refers to creaming eggs or egg yolks and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Instead we combined all three ingredients together until homogenous and smooth, I think it worked out the same. And once everything is combined stir in the milk and the zucchini. 

In a separate bowl we're going to sift together our dry ingredients. A.K.A your baking soda, not baking powder, salt, flour, and cinnamon. If you consider "love" a dry ingredient you can add this in as well. Dump your dry mixture into the wet base and stir until just combined. Try to dig from the bottom of the bowl so as to fully incorporate the flour stuck to the bottom. You don't want to overmix the batter so as soon as everything is combined stop and walk away. I've had to handcuff my hands behind my back to resist the urges to stir but hopeful you all are better behaved as I am.

Butter and flour your loaf pans. I believe the ones we used can be described as the mini or medium disposable loaf pans but I'm not completely sure. I think it's best if you just look at the picture and figure it out for yourself. By the way if one of you do figure it out please leave a comment below so I can add it in to the post. That would be very much appreciated. Divide the batter equally, I'm not sure why you wouldn't, into your pans about 3/4 of the way up. These will rise and you don't want muffin tops on your bread. Sprinkle with some roughly chopped nuts, Auntie Rosa uses walnuts, and wait until the oven is preheated. 

Bake for about an hour, or until when you insert a toothpick into the center...ah you know the spiel. 

Transfer them onto a wire rack and let them cool completely before serving. Like I said before I think these taste even better after a couple nights on the countertop. Auntie Rosa likes her bread sliced, toasted and spread with cream cheese, and I have to agree. The fluffy, moist, slightly sweet and nutty zucchini bread goes hand in hand with the cool tangy cream cheese. I especially love the crust on the top that gets nice and caramelized and sweet, simply heaven. Thank you Auntie Chow for this wonderful chow-fection and letting me bake with you, it was truly, an honor. I really hope you all make this recipe, scroll down for the recipe. And as always, 

Chow!  

Recipe 

The preferred method of consumption. Toasted with Cream Cheese.

3 eggs
1 cup of vegetable oil
2 cups of raw zucchini (grated with skin on)
2 cups of sugar
3 cups of flour
1/2 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
3 teaspoons of cinnamon
1 cup of chopped nuts (enough to sprinkle)

*For 2 loaves

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Coming Soon - The Best Zucchini Bread

What's so special about this zucchini bread? Years and years ago, long before whisks and spoonulas my aunt's grandmothers and their mothers before them made zucchini bread for the entire village. Well I'm not sure about that village part but I do know this recipe is at least twice as old as I am maybe even a little older. I stole this bread from my Auntie Rosa's cookbook last week when we made this together, and I have to say, it was delicious. We quadrupled the recipe and made ten loaves to give to all of our family members. I've never made zucchini bread before and I have to say not only were they easy to make but they're healthy and beautiful. I think it was because I had really good teacher. This is the perfect gift for your favorite grandparents or friends that you want to live for a very long time. The bread is lightly sweet and very moist, you have to stick around for this one. I'll probably have the recipe out in a few short days so... And as always,

Chow!

Assorted Macaroons - Welcome to America

Oh boy! Macaroons! I sure love me some of those mini french sandwich cookies that are soooo in style right now. You're really showing us how to make those Chef Chow? EH-UH! That was supposed to be the sound a buzzer makes. No I'm showing you how to make the american coconut macaroons. You know the you always shy away from because they're way too sweet macaroons. The only difference is, mine are delicious!

Now I know not all of you think that they're overly sweet but I do, and so do the members of my weekly, overly sweet macaroons club. But you don't have to worry because I found two tricks to cut the sweetness of the macaroons so they taste just perfect! The first trick is to toast your coconut flakes before you actually bake the cookies. This way the initial sugar from the sweetened coconut gets caramelized, and all you're left with is a deep coconut flavor. My second tip is to add different flavorings. Macaroons are often too sweet because there's no flour or butter to absorb the sugar. Adding citrus or nuts can balance the flavor, and not to mention show people that you aren't just a one-trick pony. 

This year I made three different flavors, and at the end I couldn't pick a favorite. I made cranberry orange, double chocolate, and an homage to one of my favorite candy bars, "Almond Joy" macaroons. Dare I say they were all equally delicious. So to start these cookies we need to make our macaroon base. Which starts with the toasting of our sweetened coconut shreds. Which will go in a 350 oven. By the way if you want to use fresh coconut click the link to read my previous post on how to do that.

Sweetened Coconut Flakes

Sprinkle your coconut evenly on a baking sheet and slide them into the middle rack of your oven. Of course I took a picture of my greased mat but I ended up forgetting about it in the sink. Lucky for me though my coconut did not stick so I'm pretty proud of that. Yes, those are things that I'm proud of. Every 5 minutes stir the pan so everything crisps evenly. Your coconut flakes should take between 15- 20 minutes but don't leave the room. Coconut is notorious for burning. If it doesn't see you looking at it it'll get upset so watch it like a hawk...because it'll be watching you. *Dramatic Music*

But on a less creepy note after 15 minutes my coconut flakes looked like this. Oh so beautiful. You could really just eat them like this as a snack but your patience will be rewarded. So the next step is to make the meringue. A meringue is just egg whites beaten with sugar until thick and glossy. This is one of the few things I take out my hand mixer for because it's gonna take a while. Approximately 8-10 minutes with a hand mixer, or a stand mixer. Stop when you've reached stiff peaks. Which basically means that they should be able to hold their shape. You'll know when the wake of the meringue stays it's place. If you're still confused just look at the picture. Remember if your bowl is dirty or if some yolk leeches itself into your egg whites you won't reach desired stiffness. 

It's important that you whisk your eggs long enough because then your macaroons will fall apart. After your meringue has tripled in volume and has reached stiff peaks whisk in your vanilla and salt. 

Switch to your handy dandy spoonula and divide into three parts. Separate into bowls and fold in whatever flavorings you want, including your coconut. You can be as creative as you want in this step. Meringues are basically blank canvases so you can't really go wrong - unless you go wrong. The only thing you want to be mindful of is not to alter the consistency of the meringue. If you add too much liquid then your cookies will fall apart, and the same goes for adding too much other stuff. It's also important not to over mix these. All you want to do is fold the mixture until it's barely combined. Your mindset should be, I still have about 3 mixes left, I'll stop here. Remember when you're scooping these out they will continue to mix. The key is not to destroy those little air bubbles that are trapped in the meringue. You worked hard for those. By the way the variations and flavorings that I conjured up are in the recipe below so pop down there if you can't figure out what to put in yours. 

Now we are going to take our 1 inch ice cream scoop and plop them on a well greased cookie sheet. Try to make them all the same size, you should get about 12 macaroons per flavor. It depends on how precise you were at dividing those meringues, which in my case was not very well, but I have faith that you will do better. You can place these guys fairly close to each other because they won't expand, but for photography reasons I kept them a good distance apart. Place these in the middle rack of your preheated 350 oven, and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the macaroons are golden brown. When you take these out they will be dry to the touch, the outsides will be golden, but they will still jiggle. That's normal as they cool they will firm up substantially and you'll be looking at one hell of a cookie, if I do say so myself. 

If you made these in the flavors that I suggested you should have three ascending shades of goldenness. The "almond joy" will be the lightest colored, the orange cranberry will be slightly tanner, and the chocolate will be the Tracy Morgan of the three. If you don't know who that is you should know I'm not a racist, but that's the first place my mind went. Just for the record I'm a huge fan so if you're reading this please comment below. 

Once you've finish taking pictures - which is optional, you're done!

I like to serve my assorted macaroons along side some coffee or on a festive holiday platter. Make sure you alternate flavors so people know you took the effort to create different types of macaroons. Why go through all the trouble if the message that, "I'm better than you", isn't getting across. 

Your friends and family will be so impressed that you knew how to make these and so will yourself. These macaroons are lightly crispy on the outside, but super chewy on the inside. My guests said that they weren't overly sweet and that the orange cranberry was there favorite. I still can't choose a favorite, it's like asking someone who there favorite 1 Direction member is, you can't decide. 

But in all seriousness I'd like to thank everyone who read today's post, leave a comment below on how I can improve or if you think I'm perfect. Subscribe if you haven't, and check back daily for new chow-fections. And as always, 

Chow!

Recipe

For Macaroon Base
3 cups of toasted sweetened coconut flakes
4 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

For Cranberry Orange Macaroons

1/3 cup of dried cranberries

the zest of one orange

For "Almond Joy" Macaroons

1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup of chopped or sliced almonds ( I used cashews and they were still delicious)

For Double Chocolate Macaroons

1 1/2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

*Measurements for each variation are for a third of the base*

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