When the weather gets colder, it's time to start baking!
When I bake, I like to experiment with cutting down on refined sugar and fat in recipes as well as substituting ingredients that make the baked goods more heart healthy. Just because I have to watch what I eat to manage my cholesterol, doesn't mean I want to have tiny servings of things! Quick breads are an easy way to get your baking fix, while easily swapping out ingredients.
This recipe is for an Apple Bread I recently made. I cut out all the sugar the recipe called for, since I knew the apples would sweeten it throughout. It worked very well!
I found the original recipe at wellplated.com and modified it slightly. Here is what I did:
2 cups diced apples (peeled & cored)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. milk of choice
1/4 cup water
2 eggs (or egg substitute)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
Step 1-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat an 8x4 inch baking pan with olive oil (I drizzle a bit in the pan and use a basting brush to spread around)
Step 2-In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir to combine. Then, add apples to this mix and stir to coat them.
Step 3-In a separate bowl, combine applesauce, oil, milk, water, eggs, vanilla and almond. Stir to combine.
Step 4-Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir well. Don't be alarmed if the batter is super dense, you have to use some elbow grease to stir this one up, but it’s worth it. :)
Step 5- Place the batter in the loaf pan and smooth the top so it’s flat-ish.
Step 6-Bake for 25 minutes, then tent it loosely with foil and bake it for another 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
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