Thursday, March 26, 2015

Applesauce Bread

Applesauce Bread!
For those of you who know me well, know that I don't traditionally do well with free time. Once I even said it scared me! But I think that has changed. I am currently in the middle of my first week of my two week Spring Break. Two whole weeks off! I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful and relaxing just the thought of two weeks off has been. But the reality...oh it is even greater than I imagined! Chris and I went to Arizona for Spring Training for a few days and then did a little Costco tour along the 10 on how way home. Now my days involve working out in the morning, catching up on all my shows on the DVR, going to all the grocery stores, and cooking. 


Today I felt inspired to bake and decide to make SkinnyTaste's Applesauce Nut Bread. It's a low-fat quick bread that just sounded incredible and I wanted the apartment to smell like baked apples. The original recipe called for chopped walnuts but Chris isn't the biggest fan of nuts and I need to make sure that he will eat this too...otherwise I'll eat it all myself! :D I also used honey instead of agave since it's what I had. I also decided to try something different to lighten up this recipe even further. It really didn't need to be lightened up, but I was curious to see if I could find another substitute for vegetable oil. Applesauce is my usual oil substitute but since this recipe already calls for 1 1/2 cups of applesauce, I wanted to try something different. I probably would have tried pumpkin if I didn't think I would have wasted the rest of the can. I also thought about using yogurt, but all I had was plain, nonfat Greek yogurt and I was worried that it would dry it out. Looking back now, that was probably silly as it only calls for 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil to begin with. Anyway, I had reduced fat buttermilk in the refrigerator from making Irish Soda Bread last week and found (via the wonders of the internet) that it could be a substitute for vegetable oil! Score! The bread came out moist and delicious and it knocked a one Weight Watchers point off the serving size. Between the buttermilk and not including nuts, it went from 4 Points Plus per slice to just 2!

Applesauce Bread 
1 large finely diced, peeled apple, diced into ¼" pieces
½ teaspoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon honey
1¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1½ cups applesauce
1½ cups white whole wheat flour
¾ cup brown sugar, not packed
1 tsp baking soda
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch allspice
¼ tsp salt
2 tablespoons reduced fat buttermilk
2 large egg whites
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ ounces chopped walnuts (optional)
cooking spray

In a medium bowl combine diced apple, 1/8 tsp cinnamon, honey, and lemon juice. Set aside.

I used a Jonagold apple...delicious!
How cute is my honey bear?


Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and salt with a wire whisk. Set aside.

The dry ingredients!
In a mixing bowl combine buttermilk, egg whites, sugar, applesauce, and vanilla; beat at medium speed until incorporated. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

All the wet ingredients + brown sugar.
Add the flour mixture and blend at low speed until combined. Do not over mix. Fold in apples.

All together now! :) But sorry I forgot to take a picture of the apples folded in.
Pour batter into loaf pan and bake in the center rack about 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Into the loaf pan it goes!

Let the pan cool at least 20 minutes, bread should be room temperature before slicing. Makes 16 servings (½ inch slices).

Baked perfection!

 Thanks for reading!

<3 Buttercup

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