Category Archives: Breads

Farmhouse Zucchini Bread

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Freshly baked coffee cake cooling on a wire rack with a red teapot and cup in the background.
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TODAY’S MUSINGS:

“You’ve written the book. The hard part is over.”

Those infamous words spilled from my editor’s mouth after my final-final edits were complete — just about a year ago, on November 25, 2024. I still chuckle over that utterance weekly, often many times a week.

Finishing the book was, without question, the hardest thing I’ve ever done — mentally and emotionally. But publishing and marketing? No walk in the park either. For the past four months, I’ve been deep in the marketing stage — difficult for an entirely different reason.

It’s miles outside my comfort zone.

Seat me in a quiet room, laptop beneath my fingers, and I’m in my—if not happy—then at least comfortable place. I know what I have to do, and the only person I’m trying to please is myself.

Marketing means I’m in my uncomfortable place: shilling myself, shilling the book, blathering on about me and this memoir-cookbook thing I’ve created. I’m an introvert. I wish the book would just sell itself.

Recently, I’ve started promoting it as a guest on various podcasts. For me, podcasts feel a bit like being drunk. In the moment, you believe you’re saying the wittiest, most thought-provoking bon mots; a few hours later, you’re cringing with embarrassment, rehashing all the stupid things you said—the words you mispronounced, the stories you shouldn’t have told, the secrets you let slip. It’s horrifying.

If you’d like to listen to any of the gory results, here are a few that have recently dropped:

50 Tastes of Gray with Mathew Gray: Sweet Endings from the Two-Bit Tart

Creating the Courage to Be Fearless with Anita Mattu: Dating Disasters and Dessert

Let’s Talk Media with Vedant Akhauri:  Coming Soon

That said, not all in-person events are horrifying. Talking about my book in smaller group settings can be downright lovely—especially the book club appearances I attended these past few months and a Q&A at a local bookstore. You can watch that Q&A here.

I’m trying to temper the uncomfortable shilling with the things that feel natural, and that always brings me back to baking. My kitchen and I are well acquainted, and it’s the one place where I truly feel completely comfortable in my skin.

TODAY’S RECIPE:

This is my go-to zucchini bread. I’ve been working on it for weeks trying to improve on this classic. I couldn’t. I recently brought my Farmhouse Zucchini Bread to a Book Fair to share with my fellow authors. They devoured it!

Farmhouse Zucchini Bread

This is a rich and flavorful zucchini bread made all the more delicious with a crumbly, buttery streusel topping.


Ingredients

    Streusel Topping
  • ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
  • Pinch kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • ¼ cup chopped walnuts, toasted
    • Zucchini Bread
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 2½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • ½ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 large egg + 1 large egg white
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup shredded zucchini, slightly patted dry with a paper towel
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts, toasted

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, combine all the streusel ingredients, except nuts. Using your fingers, work in the butter until the mixture forms small clumps. Stir in nuts.
  2. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and flour an 8×4-inch loaf pan.
  3. Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and spices together in a large bowl.
    4. Beat oil eggs, sugar, and vanilla together in a separate large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture and beat just until combined.
  4. Stir in shredded zucchini and chopped walnuts until evenly distributed. Spoon the batter into prepared pan, sprinkle with streusel topping, gently patting streusel into batter
  5. Bake in preheated oven until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 70 to 80 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. Run a knife around edges to loosen. Invert onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls

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A dish of fluffy, gooey cinnamon rolls
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Baking is my happy place. It’s my child’s pose after a long day at the desk, my hot-stone massage without the ubiquitous native flute music, my forest sunrise and beach sunset rolled into one. Creating in the kitchen soothes me in a way nothing else does. It’s how I reset.

I’ve been working on Gluten for Punishment for four years. I say “working on” rather than “writing” because while the writing wrapped up over a year ago, in April 2024, that was just the beginning. Editing came next—the push and pull of what I wanted to say tempered by my editor’s need for clarity—followed closely by the myriad steps to publishing.

The book was officially born on July 11, 2025, and now it’s out in the world to be read, dog-eared, and dissected. And no, the process is far from over. Now comes the part I dread most: marketing. Time to crawl out from behind my keyboard and sell my book—and myself—to the public.

I’m not great at the hard sell. So, for now, here it is: Buy my book. That’s my pitch.

With the launch behind me, I finally get to return to my first love: baking. And I started with the best kind of homecoming—fluffy, gooey cinnamon rolls. They’re soft, sweet, and shamelessly indulgent. Plus, they make the house smell like a cozy home, redolent of their cinnamon, sweet, yeasty perfume. Indulgent in the time it takes to make them, in their scent wafting through the house, and their pillowy, rich texture as I take my first bite of warm, gooey goodness. Exactly the culinary homecoming I needed.

Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls

  • Servings: 8 large rolls
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These big, fluffy, gooey cinnamon rolls are the ultimate homemade treat—soft, buttery dough swirled with cinnamon sugar and glazed twice. Perfect for brunch, holidays, or anytime you're craving bakery-style rolls from scratch.


Ingredients

    Cinnamon Rolls
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
  • 6 Tablespoons (¾ stick) unsalted butter, very soft
  • 1 large egg
  • ½ teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups bread flour
  • 1 package (2¼ teaspoons) instant yeast
  • 1 cup whole or 2% milk, room temperature
  • ⅔ cup cinnamon sugar (⅔ cup granulated sugar + 2 tablespoons cinnamon)
  • 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water (for sealing)
  • ½ cup heavy whipping cream, room temperature
    • Double Glaze
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 – 4 tablespoons warm water (adjust for consistency)

Directions

  1. Cream sugar, salt, and butter in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Stir in egg and lemon zest. Add flour, yeast, and milk.
  2. Switch to a dough hook and mix on medium speed for approximately 12 minutes. Dough should be silky and tacky, but not sticky. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for two hours in a warm, draft-free space.
  3. Transfer to a lightly oil-sprayed counter and, using a rolling pin, roll to a rectangle 14 x 13 inches. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, leaving a 1-inch border free of sugar at one short end. Use your hands or rolling pin to gently press the cinnamon sugar into the dough.
  4. Starting from sugared short end, roll up dough, seal seam with egg wash, and cut about ½-inch from each end to create clean, even ends. Cut rolls 1½ inches thick. Place in a 13×9” pan, three along each side and two in the middle, about ½” apart. Cover and let rise 75 minutes until nearly doubled in size and touching each other.
  5. Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour the heavy whipping cream evenly over risen cinnamon rolls (1 tablespoon per roll) in the baking dish, letting cream soak into the rolls for five minutes.
  6. Cover the pan loosely with foil and bake for 15 minutes, remove the foil and bake for approximately an additional 15 minutes, until tops are brown and a thermometer inserted into the center dough (not filling) reads 200°F. Remove rolls from oven.
  7. Make glaze while rolls are still very warm. Combine powdered sugar, vanilla, and water and whisk until smooth. Glaze should be pourable but not too thin—like warm honey. Brush half of glaze over rolls. Let rolls cool 30 minutes. Spread remaining glaze over rolls. If glaze is too thick, add a few drops of warm water to loosen. Serve rolls warm. Store leftovers covered at room temperature.

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