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If you like Zucchini Bread or Muffins with Cream Cheese frosting, you’re going to love this easy, quick bread recipe for Zucchini Bread Recipe with Cheesecake Swirl.
Seriously I took my favorite basic quick bread recipe, cut the sugar a bit, added a cheesecake swirl, and grated zucchini. If your kids object to green bits in their bread, you can peel the zucchini, but it usually isn’t a problem.
And get your fresh garden zucchini while you can because I just saw fresh snow on the mountain for the first time.
I entirely burned my family out on this recipe in the development phase. I made batches of this bread trying to get it just right. In the end, I came to realize the Cheesecake layer was going to do what the leavening agents make it do. Drop, swirl, tilt, rise or fall, the Cheesecake is just along for the ride. A tasty ride!
Green Flakes in Zucchini Bread
Do your kids object to green flakes in bread? I know adults who let it bother them so don’t feel bad if they do. You can just peel the zukes before grating it. Or you can be a stellar mom like me and say tough luck eat it or don’t. Interestingly my kids always choose to eat it. HA!
It’s definitely Zucchini Season, amirite? This is the culmination of the summer, abundant Zucchini just hanging around in the gardens waiting to get used. Somewhere, somehow.
Or gifted, that’s another way to get Zucchini out of the garden. I prefer to grate them up though. And then I freeze them in bags for recipes like this one. I can make Zucchini Bread with Cheesecake Swirl all winter long.
It’s also great to throw in pasta sauce, lasagne, curries, or stir-fries. Having it tucked in the freezer is like being well-prepared for winter, you’ll always have something to eat.
How do you spell that again?!?
PS If you ever want to learn to spell zucchini correctly just write a blog post about it and you’ll be fine.
Need a gluten-free zucchini bread Recipe?
Try this recipe for Gluten Free Zucchini Bread. Gluten-free but full of flavor just like you expect from a good zucchini bread recipe!
Zucchini Bread with Cheesecake Swirl
Ingredients
Cheesecake Swirl
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Zucchini Bread
- 2 cups coarsely grated zucchini grate first and let it drain while you make the rest of the bread
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup Sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 cup buttermilk or one cup of milk with a dash of vinegar
Instructions
- set the zucchini to drain while you make the batter, before adding the zucchini to the batter squeeze out as much water as possible, too much will make the bread too dense and unable to properly rise
- to make the cheesecake swirl: beat the cream cheese and the sugar together until smooth, add the egg and vanilla, stir to combine
- preheat the oven to 350˚
- lightly grease two 8×4 loaf pans (OR five small aluminum foil loaf pans)
- melt the butter, let it cool but not solidify, then stir in the sugar
- beat in the eggs, vanilla, and cinnamon,
- squeeze out the water from the zucchini and add it to the mix
- stir to combine
- mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and soda together in a separate bowl
- then add the buttermilk alternately with the flour mixture to the batter, stirring to combine, it will be lumpy and unpretty if there are still floury spots stir a little longer
- pour batter in to cover the bottom of the pans, carefully divide the cheesecake batter between the two loaf pans, spread to the edges of the pan
- cover with the remaining batter
- bake for 45-55 minutes for big loaves or 35-40 minutes for a small loaf or until a toothpick comes out moist but without crumbs
- cool completely and then store wrapped
Notes
- you can make five small aluminum foil loaf pans, I included directions for them in the recipe itself
Nutrition
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I’m confused. It says add eggs and vanilla for the cheesecake swirl but there aren’t any eggs in that section of the recipe. The only eggs listed are in the other section. Under zucchini bread..
Good catch! For the swirl you need 1 egg–I added it to the recipe card–thanks!
It calls for baking soda and baking powder both, but one is only mentioned??
Yep sorry, it was meant to be both of them stirred into the flour