Zucchini Bread with Whipped Honey Butter and Caramelized Walnuts

Oh my goodness!  This weekend I made a batch of zucchini/squash bread for my parents who will be taking a long drive down south.  It's always nice to have some snacks packed for the trip and a few mini loaves (sliced and ready) are the perfect snack for their trip.  I raided my dad's garden a few weeks ago and picked two GIGANTIC squash or zucchini.  I'd never seen squash that big before, so I decided to call it "zucchini".  It looked like the zucchini I had as a kid, it was just yellow.

Here:  Take a peek at the instagram photo I shot of those squash/zucchini or whatever they are.

Those babies were not at all tiny.  They measured approximately 14 inches long and about 5 inches wide.  ONE of those squash/zucchini made enough for two batches of bread (I use 4 mini loaf pans per batch).  SO amazing right?

Now, you might think that it's crazy to use squash (if that's what it was) in a bread, but I figured if it WAS squash, that's ok because zucchini is a form of squash too.  So maybe we can call it zucchini with a little wink, ok?!  Either way, this dessert bread is AMAZING, I tell you.  It's not too sweet, not bland and packs so much fabulous flavor.  It DOES NOT taste like squash and I thank GOD for that! Moist, dense and tasty!  Did I tell you it was delicious?  MMM...

Alrighty, so I suppose you might be interested in dipping your finger in that buttah...Oh yeah, I did. Just a little dab'll do ya!  

Now this moist, dense, and delectable bread needed a tasty topping to send it over the edge, so I whipped up some Honey Butter (Fresh Honey from Joscie's bees of Flower Road Farm) and caramelized some walnuts to sprinkle on top.   MMMM...deelish!  

I mean LOOK...don't you just want to lick this picture?  Really, this butter was so light and fluffy and mighty tasty too!  

So how about the recipe???

Inspiration for this recipe comes from a treasured cookbook.  The Our Heritage Cookbook published in 1984, contains recipes contributed by parishioners of First Lutheran Church in Northwood, Iowa. This particular cookbook is lovingly called "The Rainbow Book" because each cooking section is a different paper color.  It's quite easy to navigate using this color coded system, and the baking/breads section is pink...go figure!  This cookbook is like a bible for my family and has so many tried-and-true recipes from families we love.  It also includes recipes contributed by my grandmother and aunts.  It's a treasure trove of history and memories, that's for sure.  The original recipe was provided by Iola Bakken and Deb Rustad and it can be found on page 35 in the "pink" section.