Take this classic zucchini bread recipe and make it really special with a tasty ribbon of cinnamon and sugar!

Ah yes. It’s that time of year again. Zucchini time. When your garden has produced so much that you can’t possibly eat it all and you start your desperate bid to pawn it off on neighbors, because wasting zucchini is almost criminal. We are the neighbors that are grateful for your zucchini generosity. Our garden is so small that we don’t have room to grow zucchini. Just in case you didn’t know, zucchini takes over everything. It needs a lot of space. It’s like the “I need a king-sized bed” vegetable.

“No no, this little twin-sized spot of ground won’t do. I’m going to spread out EVERYWHERE.”

This is why we can’t grow zucchini. But every year, we manage to get some for free from friends and church-goers who bring their harvest to church. They drop off their box in the kitchen and then hurry away, with a whispered repeated plea–“Please let it be gone by the end of church, please let it be gone by the end of church….”

No worries. My family and I are happy to oblige. That’s because zucchini is like the shape-shifting vegetable. You can use it any way you like. Want to make a cake? No problem! Zucchini can go in your cake. Want to have a healthy dinner? No worries! Just stuff that zucchini with some meat and cheese and you are golden. What about French fries? Oh, I know! Let’s coat zucchini in breading and fry it!

Or let’s just make this delicious loaf of Cinnamon Swirl Zucchini Bread. It’s your classic zucchini bread, with a fun ribbon of cinnamon running through it. It’s always exciting to me to see how that swirl turns out, because the cinnamon sugar layer is flat before you bake it. O.K. It’s not THAT exciting compared to sky diving (I would imagine, because I will never actually go sky diving since I value my life). But still, it’s pretty cool.

Keep your eyes out for desperate neighbors with zucchini and graciously offer to take some off their hands. Then be a sweetie and bring them a loaf of this bread in return 🙂

This recipe adapted from Cinnamon Swirl Zucchini Bread on Creme de la Crumb.

Cinnamon Swirl Zucchini Bread

Author: Melissa Howell

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup grated zucchini
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable or coconut oil
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder

For the Swirl

1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. cinnamon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8-inch bread pan.
In a large bowl, combine zucchini, sugar, oil, and eggs, and mix well.
Add 1/2 cup of flour to the mixture, along with the baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Mix well.
Add the remaining 1 cup of flour and stir until incorporated.
In a small bowl, mix together the 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 Tbsp. cinnamon.
Pour 1/3 of the batter into the prepared bread pan. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon sugar mixture over the top. Add another 1/3 of the batter, then sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture. Pour the last 1/3 of the batter over the top.
Bake for 35-45 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.