Applesauce Banana Bread

Applesauce gets left over like bananas, and is also a common way to make banana bread non-dairy (though just using oil or shortening would also work). Note that this is not a quick quick bread.

Makes one 9" x 5" loaf.

Ingredients

Wet

• 2 overripe bananas
• ⅔ c. applesauce
• 2 eggs
• 1 c. brown sugar
• ½ T. vanilla extract

Dry

• 2 c. flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp pumpkin spice

Extras

• ⅔ c. chopped walnuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Grease a 9" x 5" loaf pan and dust with flour.
3. Mash bananas (say, with a stand mixer).
4. Optionally toast nuts 6–8 minutes in oven.
5. Beat wet ingredients (including sugar), optionally in a stand mixer.
6. In another bowl, mix together dry ingredients.
7. Add dry mixture to wet and mix.
8. Stir in nuts.
9. Fill loaf pan.
10. Bake about 60 minutes until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the top starts getting too dark, cover with foil.
11. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Variants

You can restore the butter (or oil, or shortening) by substituting it in for some or all of the applesauce. I often use ⅓ c. applesauce and ⅓ c. oil.

There is apparently a party of putting chocolate chips into banana bread. I have tossed in some blueberries at the end when the bananas were small.

You can use cinnamon and/or nutmeg in place of the spice mix.