Fooling Around with Banana Bread

Miss. Flirty Baker has found herself with a house full of very ripe bananas. So, per the usual, I pull out the stops and make some banana baked treat. But, with an office full of calorie watching colleagues, I wanted to make something that everyone would not only enjoy, but wouldn't be terrible for them. And shoot, if it still tastes good and I can go back for seconds, why not?

So, I'm doing some fooling with my banana bread recipe.

Today's test was taking out the butter. I substituted 6 tablespoons of unsweetened apple sauce for the 5 1/3 tablespoons of butter that my recipe calls for. And you know what? It was great! The final product actually rose well, was very moist, light and fluffy. While I missed some of the richness that the butter provided, I didn't miss the extra calories.

There are a few other variations that I'll be trying down the road - taking out the eggs and making a substitute, and maybe using Splenda for sugar. I'll try Splenda, but I do think that it changes the flavor pretty dramatically. But, you never know. I also don't really like egg substitute, so I'll keep you posted on how I work around that.

But for now, I'm pleased with the unsweetened apple sauce substitute. It's a 1 to 1 ratio when you make the substitution, so give it a try on your own favorite recipe.

Enjoy!