My roomies and I were having our first guest and boy was I excited. I am a better baker than cooker (although I hope to change that this year), and I was looking forward to making some tasty desserts for my friend's arrival. So I decided to make banana bread and raspberry scones. The banna bread went well. I am a big baker, but have been trying to learn to bake more on the healthy side (hoping to avoid the junior 30). So I did some reserach and found that you can substitute half the butter in your baking recipie with apple sauce. Apple sause? Yes, I was skeptical too...but it has worked pretty well so far and has worked desliscouly in banna bread! Yesterday was also the first time that I ever used whole wheat flour and that worked out well too. The banna bread came out a bit chewy but it was a nice texture over-all.
Healthy-ish Banana Bread (Adapted from the Joy of Cooking cookbook)
Ingredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons apple sauce
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs lightly beaten
4-5 very ripe banana's mashed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Steps
1. Set oven to 350 degrees
2. Whisk together flours,salt, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl.
3. In another bowl, beat together sugar, salt and butter until it forms a grainy paste.
4. Slowly beat in the flour mixture into the sugar mixture.
5. Gradually add the eggs
6. Gently fold in the bananas
7. Place mixture in a greased baking pan.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a knife comes out cleanly when placed in the center of the loaf.
You're supposed to let the bread cool for about an hour, but I tend to cut a slice off just a few minutes after it comes out of the oven. There is nothing better than warm banana bread. The other thing I love about this recipe is that it gives me something to do with my bananas when they seem to be getting a little to ripe. Don't they just seem to brown up so fast!
Ok. On to the scones. These were not quite as successful. They weren't a massive failure or anything, they just tasted a bit doughy. It is here that I learned my important lesson...some things can not be substituted! More specifically 2% milk should not be substituted for cream in a scone recipe.
See the thing is, when I went to make my scones I realized that I did not have any cream in my fridge. Not wanting to go out, I thought I would be fine substituting milk. I was wrong. With out the cream, the scones lost there richness in flavor and since they are not sweet it just kind of tasted like doughy bread. I served them with jam and low fat cool whip, so my friend and roommates enjoyed them. However, I know I could do better, given the proper ingredients.
Scones are super easy to make, so I will be trying again soon, but with cream. So the moral of the story. Apple sauce can be substituted for half the butter in banana bread, but you should really not skimp on the cream if you are going to make scones. Sadly, since my scones did not turn out too grand I will not give the recipe here. You will just have to keep tuning in and catch me when I make them right.
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