Another Tweaked Recipe: Delicious Apple Bread (Oh! And an apple sauce recipe)

If you follow me on instagram (lifewithed), you probably have noticed that I've been on quite a baking frenzy. Unemployment in the traditional sense just ups the ante on domestication.

Dave came back from his friend's bachelor trip with a huge bag of apples. They were large red delicious, I believe. I'm not a huge fan of eating those as is, so I scoped out some good apple recipes.

When I was looking up apple bread recipes, I noticed that some call for apple sauce (in place of oil), and a lightbulb went off: Why just make homemade apple bread when I can also make homemade apple sauce for the homemade apple bread?

Apple Bread
(with some changes made to reduce fat and calorie count without compromising on taste):

Below: Paired it with some holiday gelatto--so good!

Ingredients

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup apple sauce
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar (you can use agave as a substitute, but it'll compromise the texture of the bread/muffins)
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 cups apples--peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped
1 cup broken walnuts (can sub pecans or leave them out entirely--I personally love the walnuts in the bread)

Directions
(preheat oven at 350 degrees)


1. In bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt
2. In large mixing bowl (or stand mixer), place oil, sugar, eggs, apple sauce, sugar, vanilla and apples.
3. Stir (pour in) flour mixture until well incorporated.
4. Add walnuts
5. Divide mixture between two greased 8x4 in bread pans (I poured the batter into one bread pan to about 3/4 of the way full and then poured the remainder of the batter into a mini cupcake mold (makes 12 of those or 6 regular sized muffins).
6. Bake the loaf at 350 for 40-45 minutes or until the bread test done (the toothpick or knife trick)
7. If making mini muffins, bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes (make sure to reduce oven temp if necessary, so you don't dry out your muffins)
8. Let cool for 10 minutes on rack before moving from pan

Apple Sauce

Ingredients
(I used 12 apples and those yielded a little bit more than 1/2 gallon of sauce)

2 large apples (3 medium)--peeled, cored and shredded (I used a food processor with the grate blade)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup water (or less if you want a thicker sauce)
1 tbl brown sugar (you can leave this out completely or add more if you'd like)

Directions

1. Place shredded apples in a medium saucepan over medium low heat.
2. Sprinkle with cinnamon, then add water
3. Cook until the apple bits become soft and mushy
4. Stir in brown sugar and mix well.

Serving suggestions

-Use as a topping for ice cream
- Mix into morning oatmeal (so good!)
- Use it as a dip with graham crackers (the kiddos love this)


These goodies also make great gifts!

Enjoy!