Applesauce Quick Bread

This recipe is a really great way to start off your day. I actually made it last night when I got a craving for quick bread (hence why I won't have any photos of the baking process, so please excuse me for that). I knew I had a lot of applesauce in the fridge, and although I've heard of it, I've never actually made applesauce bread. So I went on a quick search and it led me to this post in the forums over at Taste of Home. As I've stated back in my caramel cheesecake post, it's unusual for me to make a recipe that has little or no reviews at all, but it seemed like a solid recipe and the few people that posted there were assured that it was a good recipe. As usual, quick bread is an easy measure, dump, mix, and bake process, so it came together in a jiffy and in about 50 minutes, I had a wonderful and not too bad for you snack.

The recipe has little oil in it and only two eggs. It has just a couple of tablespoons of milk that you could easily use fat free for and a nice helping of applesauce in it, so it's fairly healthy for you. I have to admit that the applesauce flavor isn't really detectable, but gives the bread a nice moistness to it. The wonderful flavor comes from the cinnamon and nutmeg, so really it just tastes like a nice spice bread, and that was A-okay with me. Actually, if you happened to have any apple juice or even cider on hand, you could brush a little on the top of the bread when it's still warm to give it more of an apple flavor and to make it even more moist. But as I said, the bread is delicious on it's own.Just to mention, I'm going on vacation with my family from the 19th to the 26th, so obviously I won't be posting during that time. I'm mentioning it now because I'm not sure if I'll be posting anything else between now and then. I have a couple of things planned to bake, but one of them is my next Daring Bakers challenge (which I hope I won't be too worn out after my trip so that I can post it on time) which doesn't get posted until the 27th and the other is a treat for my dad for Father's Day, but I've already made the recipe before and blogged about it. I just wanted to clarify in the case that I don't post anything until the Daring Bakers challenge reveal. Anyway, onto the recipe now!

Applesauce Quick Bread (adapted from kathyf's post on Taste of Home)
Makes 1 9x5 inch loaf

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
  
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/4 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 cup oil
• 2 eggs
• 3 tablespoons milk
  

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray and flour a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
2. In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, mix together the applesauce, oil, eggs, and milk until well combined. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix together with a wooden spatula just until combined. Do not overmix.
4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes until a skewer inserted in the center of the bread comes out clean. Let cool for about 10 minutes on a wire rack, then loosen the bread from the pan and place on a wire rack to cool completely.