As most quick breads do, this one has an entire cup of oil, in the form of melted butter. I don’t like to use that much oil in my quick breads, as it tends to make them too oily, not to mention calorie-laden. I usually replace the oil with applesauce, at least partially.

If you use applesauce, you can cut the butter down to ½ cup and you can cut the sugar down to 1½ cups. Personally, I would reduce the sugar down to 1 cup, especially if I planned to use the icing. Your bread will not be too sweet that you couldn’t eat it for breakfast, yet it still makes a fine snack or even dessert.

 

INGREDIENTS

1 cup unsalted butter, melted

2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

¼ cup fresh orange juice

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract

3¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ tsp salt

2½ tsp baking powder

¾ tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Pinch of ground cloves

Pinch of ground nutmeg

2 cups shredded carrots

1 cup shredded zucchini

1 cup diced, peeled apple (Granny Smith, Fuji, whatever you have on hand)

½ cup pecans, chopped

For the Cream Cheese Glaze/Frosting

½ cup cream cheese, softened

¼ cup butter, softened

2-3 cups powdered sugar

1-3 Tbsp. orange juice, as needed

 

INSTRUCTIONS

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8×4-inch loaf pans. Line with parchment paper and set aside.

Place shredded zucchini in a large kitchen towel. Bring up the four corners and twist. Squeeze the towel to extract all the liquid from the zucchini, or as much as you can. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg together. Set aside.

In a separate large bowl, whisk together the butter and sugar. Add eggs, orange juice, and vanilla and whisk until well-combined.

Fold dry ingredients into wet ingredients, along with the shredded carrots, shredded zucchini, apples, and pecans.

Pour into prepared pans. Bake until golden brown, 55 to 60 minutes, or until loaves spring back when gently pressed with fingers. Let cool completely before icing.

Cream Cheese Glaze/Frosting

Cream together cream cheese and butter with a hand mixer.

Add in 2 cups of powdered sugar and continue mixing. Drizzle in orange juice until desired consistency is achieved.

Frost bread and enjoy!

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Quick Tip:  As long as you keep the add-ins to a total of 3 cups, you can vary the amounts of carrots and zucchini you use in this recipe. If you don’t have any carrots, use all zucchini. If you don’t like zucchini, use strictly carrots. Make any combination you would like, based on taste preferences and what you have on-hand.

Recipe and image courtesy of Trish at Mom On Timeout