If you know me at all or you've followed any of the blog then you know- when I bake I don't usually go the healthy route. I mean don't get me wrong, as far as meals are concerned I maintain a pretty healthy diet, but when it comes to sweets.. well those rules don't apply. If I'm baking then I pretty much go the Paula Deen way: sugar is good and butter is better. I honestly don't know how Vegan's do it.. no eggs, no butter...no milk?! I will admit, my dining hall in undergrad made some fantastic Vegan cinnamon oatmeal cookies... but still... sweets aren't meant to be healthy that's why they're sweets!
Since this Zucchini Bread was done the healthy way, I used whole-wheat flour and substituted apple sauce for butter (sigh) but the one thing I couldn't force myself to do was use Splenda, instead I did a combo of brown and white sugar. And of course I made the second loaf with Gluten-Free All Purpose Flour. While at the grocery store I ended up having to buy a huge bag of whole-wheat flour so I'll probably be trying out some different "healthier" recipes in the near future. Who knows, maybe I'll see the light??... but don't hold your breath (sorry Andrea).
Zucchini Bread
Oven: 350 Bake Time: 1 hour
Yields 2 loaves
1 cup unsweetened apple sauce
3 eggs
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cup grated zucchini (about 1 1/2 large zucchinis or 2 smaller ones)
3 cups whole wheat flour* or 3 cups Gluten Free AP flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 TBS cinnamon
Combine apple sauce, eggs, sugar, vanilla and zucchini.
Whisk flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
Add flour mixture to wet mixture and mix till combined.
*I actually split the recipe so I could make 1 loaf whole wheat and 1 loaf gluten free. After I combined the wet ingredients I transfered half to a different bowl (the wet ingredients make almost exactly 4 cups of mix so it was easy to divide into two bowls). I then made a mix of 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, and a dash of salt and added it to one bowl of wet. I did the same for the gluten free batch.
Pour batter into two prepared loaf pans (buttered and floured) and bake for an hour at 350.
I will admit, the bread turned out pretty yummy and I did feel a little bit better about myself as I ate two slices for breakfast this morning...but I wonder how much better it could have been with butter and regular flour?? :)
And I'll have to get back to you about the outcome of the Gluten-free loaf.. I didn't want to cut into it before Mountain Man's dad got to try some!
Happy Baking!
