Dear friend,

If you know me, you're probably tired of hearing about my love affair with all things Tessa Kiros (Apples for Jam, Twelve, Falling Cloudberries...). I can't help it. She's my hero in about a million ways.
 (This video!!!) It's hard to put her magic into words, but her recipes read like stories, and her food exudes a warmth and an ease that seems sweetly cobbled together from all of her family traditions. I make this zucchini bread every summer, shaping it into loaves or muffins or little cakes, and we look forward to it all year long. It is made entirely with olive oil, which deepens the flavor, and it's studded with pecans and lemon zest and nutmeg and  several "good grinds of black pepper", which makes it seem so...I don't know, Greek? It is truly lovely, though. In the haze of a summer afternoon. Buttered, and with coffee!

It's the perfect little snack for an afternoon coffee break from all this "work" i'm doing :)

Zucchini Bread from Apples for Jam

2/3 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup olive oil

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 eggs

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

pinch of ground nutmeg

salt

3 zucchini, coarsely grated

freshly ground black pepper

2 tsp. grated lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter and flour a 12 by 4 inch loaf pan (I usually make muffins instead!). Beat the sugar with the oil and vanilla until smooth and then add the eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. Keep on beating until you have a thick, yet light and fluffy batter. Sift in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and the lemon zest, and fold together well. Stir pecans gently through batter. Scrape the batter into the pan and bake for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a skewer poked into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Cool for ten minutes before removing from pan. Well wrapped up, this stays moist and soft for days, and it toasts well after that. 

Happy baking!

Love,

Rebekka