Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread

 If you plant zucchini in your home garden, you might wind up with quite a lot by the end of the season. So I usually like to find delicious and new recipes to use up all of that extra zucchini. I've done zucchini pancakes, zucchini "crab" cakes, a summer squash saute (which was out of this world, I must say), and of course zucchini bread. And then I remembered a Lemon Zucchini Cookie recipe that was sent to me by my friend Kathleen. I thought, "ooo lets run with that flavor combination.."
  So I started looking and immediately found several versions of a particular lemon zucchini bread recipe. Great! So  I gave it a try. Uh... maybe not so great. The flavor was good, but the texture was ALL WRONG.  I thought, ok lets take another look at it. For a one-loaf recipe, the original had quite a lot of sugar in it, and also quite a lot of zucchini. Maybe this was the reason the final product turned out too gooey, which is great in some cases but in this case it's definitely not what I was going for. It also used cake flour, which probably added to the different texture. Oh, and the glaze was far too thin and soaked right into the warm bread, probably yet another reason why it was too gooey. I just wanted a nice light quick bread with a sweet lemony glazed drizzled over the top. Overall, it wasn't what I originally had in mind, but it was definitely worth a second try.
 I did some more searching and found another version of the recipe on a website called Like Mother Like Daughter. I gave it a try. Bingo! This was the one I wanted! It's light, deliciously moist from the zucchini, and lemony sweet and tart. It's also very easy to throw together and it uses ingredients that you probably already have on hand. And I like that it makes just one loaf of bread, perfect for a little something sweet with a cup of coffee or tea. So, there you have it. And to all of my friends who always ask me for "anything lemon", this one's for you! Definitely a keeper.



For the Bread:
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 tbs lemon juice
zest of 1 lemon
1 cup grated zucchini

For the Lemon Glaze:

1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
2 tbs lemon juice
lemon zest to taste, if desired



Preheat oven to 350ºF. Spray a 9x5 loaf pan with baking spray (or grease and flour). Set aside.
In a large bowl, blend together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, beat 2 eggs well. Whisk in the oil and sugar. Add the buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest and blend together well. Fold in the zucchini until well coated. Add the wet mixture to the dry mixture and fold together until everything is well blended, but don't over-mix. Pour the batter into your loaf pan. Place in your oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling. Whisk together all glaze ingredients, then drizzle glaze over your cooled bread before serving.


Tips:
Instead of buying buttermilk, simply place 2 tsp of lemon juice or vinegar in a half cup measure, then fill the rest of the way with milk. Microwave it for 30 seconds. The heat will make it curdle, which is exactly what you want. Works perfectly as a buttermilk substitution!
For the glaze, I wanted it to be VERY lemony, so I added more lemon zest. I even added a drop or two of lemon extract. Make it to suit your own taste!
I used only a half cup of zucchini (instead of 1 cup) because that was all I had, but it still turned out perfectly. Of course, if you have LOTS of zucchini that you need to use up, you could always make several breads and then store them tightly wrapped in the freezer until your ready for them. (Holiday gift giving anyone??)