(Vegan) Chestnut Zucchini Bread – oh so gooey!

After 2 weeks of chocolate brownie marathon, it’s time to change up this week’s dessert menu. As we are moving towards the end of the summer and it’s becoming chillier outside, what is better than some warm and hearty sweet bread… like zucchini bread…fully vegan?!

To spice it up a bit, we’ll go for chestnut flour instead of the usual wholewheat or spelt flour. Not only does this make our bread completely paleo and gluten-free, it also adds an earthy and nutty dimension to our bread. On the nutrition side, by using zucchini and fruit-based natural sweetness, each bread slice will be full of  micronutrients from manganese, potassium, folate, vitamin A, B’s, C, dietary fiber, to calcium while low on carb and sugar. Win-win!!

A note on the final photo – This time, my bread turned out a tad too wet and failed to take a proper bread form. All because I forgot zucchini will create extra moisture during the baking process and was too eager to use too much milk in my wet base.  As such, I’ve adjusted in the recipe below to the proportion which I think would give us the right structure.

Ingredients – 8 servings

Dry ingredients

• 100gr chestnut flour
• 50gr almond flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp powdered vanilla extract OR 1 tbsp liquid extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp low-sodium salt

Wet ingredients

• 2 ripe bananas (~ 250gr)
• 1 avocado
• 20gr coconut oil, melted
• 1/2 cup (~ 100gr) unsweetened apple sauce
• 2 flaxeggs = 1 tbsp flaxmeal + 4 tbsp water
• 1 large zucchini (~ 350gr), grated
• 50ml unsweetened almond milk. As zucchini will continue to produce water during baking, we do not need much liquid here
• 1/2 cup (~ 50gr) raisins, unsweetened

Method

• Preheat the oven to 175C or 350F
• Mix all dry ingredients together, set aside
• Blend banana, apple sauce, avocado, almond milk, coconut oil and flax eggs in the blender
• Pour the wet mixture into a large bowl
• Mix dry ingredients into the wet batter, fold with a spatula until everything is well incorporated. Folding technique will help the bread maintain a firm yet light texture
• If you feel the mixture is too dry, do not temp to add more milk (like I did!). The zucchini will further moisten our bread in the oven so any extra liquid now will ruin the bread form (and again, it’ll look a crumbled like mine here)
• Add in half of the grated zucchini and half of the raisins, fold everything in together
• Line the baking tin with baking paper, coat with some leftover coconut oil to prevent sticking
• Pour in the bread batter
• Top with the remainder of grated zucchini and raisins

• Bake at 175C for 50-60mins
• Test with a stick by poking into the bread. If it comes out dry and clean, our bread is ready. If not, bake for another 10-15mins
• Cool at room temperature for 10mins before serving

As with all other pastry breads, this gooey bread is best served when still warm. Top with chopped roasted pecan if wish and enjoy over a cup of coffee or tea.

Nutritional value per serving (out of 8)

(from MyFitnessPal based on manually-added ingredients)

Calories: 205kC/860kJ; Fat 9.2 g of which saturated 3g (from coconut oil); Cholesterol 0g; Sodium 198mg;

Potassium 181mg; Carb 129g; Sugar 12.9g; Protein 4.3g; Fiber 3.3gr;  Vit C 18.3% DV; Calcium 3%; Iron 2.5%