Now Bake This: Low Fat Banana Bread

Recently hubby and I went to the store and bought some bananas, but for some reason we didn’t get them eaten in time.  I hated to let them go to waste so I decided to make banana bread.  I went searching the internet for a recipe, although one I made last fall that Lourie gave me was a big contender in this quest.

I was also on the quest to find another recipe, when I stumbled upon a Lowfat version of Banana bread on Skinny Taste blog.  I decided I would attempt that recipe, low fat, gotta be good, right?  Of course go me, I deviated off the recipe a bit and made it my own and Holy cow yum!  Not trying to boast or anything, but it did kind of make my day :).

So without further ado, my adapted version of Low fat Banana Bread.

Ingredients:

• 6 ripe medium bananas, mashed
• 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
• 2-1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1-1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 4 tbsp butter, softened
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 oz (3/4 cup) chopped walnuts (optional)
• baking spray

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Grease two 8×5 inch loaf pans with baking spray.

In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add eggs, bananas, apple sauce and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until thick. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

Add flour mixture and walnuts (if desired), then blend at low speed until combined. Do not over mix.

Pour batter into loaf pans and bake on the center rack for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  What worked best for us is baking for 50 minutes, then turning off the oven and letting it sit in the heat for 10 more minutes (Thanks Lourie for that trick!)

Let the pan cool at least 20 minutes, bread should be room temperature before slicing.

And boy was it yummy!

Just look here!