Orange Poppyseed Zucchini Bread

Okay, so I know I said I couldn't make zucchini bread anymore this year because I used all the zucchini. I had frozen some, but I figured when I thawed it, it would be too juicy for bread. Turns out, it works amazingly well. I had chopped it finely in my food processor before freezing, so when I thawed it, all I had to do was let it sit and drain a while, pressing it every now and then. It actually might have worked a bit better than fresh zucchini, because I was able to squeeze most of the liquid out.

This bread is from Eat Cake For Dinner blog, and it was pretty good. I didn't follow her recipe exactly, of course, mostly because I wanted to use a whole orange. It turned out really well, but next time, I might add a bit more sugar since I didn't add glaze, and DEFINITELY a bit of almond extract, as it seemed like it would have been really good with the addition (like lemon poppyseed bread, but orangey). Also, if you have orange extract, you  might add a few drops, as the orange was a bit hard to taste in this.

Ingredients:
1.5 c. whole wheat pastry flour
.5 c. all purpose flour
 2 tsp. aluminum-free baking powder  
1 1/2 Tbl. poppy seeds
2 large eggs  
1/2 c. coconut oil, in liquid form (if it's solid, melt in the oven while it heats up)  
1/3 c. sugar (I'd use 1/2 c. next time)  
1 whole organic orange with the peel on
1/3 c. plain yogurt  
1 c. grated zucchini, squeeze some liquid out if possible

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
Oil one loaf pan and set aside. 
Leaving the skin on, cut the orange in quarters and remove seeds. In a food processor or blender (or Ninja), blend until pulpy and finely chopped.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder, and poppy seeds
In a separate bowl whisk the eggs with a hand mixer until thick and lemon colored.  
Add the coconut oil and sugar and mix briefly with mixer to combine.  
Beat in the shredded orange, yogurt, and zucchini. 
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir together just until combined.  Do not overmix.  
Pour into loaf pan & bake for 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. (It took 1 hr in my oven and cooked perfectly, but my oven is a bit slow).
Remove from oven and cool in pan 10 minutes. Invert to a wire rack and cool further. We like our bread warm, so I never cool it completely as the directions say. We ate this with cream cheese for breakfast and it was a big hit. It would have made excellent muffins as well. Just a hint of sweetness and orange flavor. Not at all overpowering, and definitely not a dessert. Some of the zucchini breads I've made have been cake, but this was not. Would be good with glaze (see original recipe for a glaze recipe) or frosting (I made an orange-cream cheese frosting for it so we could use it as dessert the second time).

My improvised Orange Cream Cheese Frosting
1/2 block cream cheese
2 tbsp. honey
1/4 tsp. almond extract
2 tbsp. orange juice

Soften cream cheese and mix all ingredients with a hand mixer until smooth.