Zucchini Pumpkin Cranberry Bread

After making my whole wheat pumpkin waffles, I had some leftover pumpkin to use up. I also knew that we had quite a bit of shredded zucchini in the freezer that wasn't getting used up. This bread recipe was perfect! If you like zucchini bread and you like pumpkin bread, you will like them combined. I made a couple of alterations to the original recipe to make it healthier, and was very pleased with the results. This bread is moist, spicy and therefore reminiscent of fall, pumpkin-y, and sweet from the cranberries. One thing I love is that the recipe makes two loaves - one to eat now and one to give away or freeze for later. In fact, I think I will take the second loaf out of the freezer soon because writing this post has made me eager to eat this bread again!

Zucchini Pumpkin Cranberry Bread
adapted from: The Sweets Life
yield: 2 loaves

What You Need
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup sugar
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
6 tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour {Feel free to adjust the flour proportions according to your preference. I decided to replace just 1 cup with whole wheat flour because I wasn't sure how it would turn out.}
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 cup shredded zucchini
1 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup sunflower seeds {The original recipe calls for pepitas, or pumpkin seeds.}
1/4 cup flax seed

What To Do
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 2 loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Combine eggs and sugar in a mixing bowl. Mix in pumpkin, applesauce, butter, and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves. Stir into wet ingredients, mixing just until combined.
4. Stir in zucchini, cranberries, sunflower seeds, and flax seed. Mix until combined.
5. Divide batter evenly between loaf pans, smoothing tops with a spatula.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer pans to a wire rack to cool. After several minutes, remove bread from pans and leave on wire rack to finish cooling, if desired.

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