Applesauce Nut Bread

Last night I baked this loaf of quick bread. The recipe is from bakingbites.com. It turned out great! I followed the recipe with only minor tweaks - I threw in 1/4 leftover crushed pineapples I had sitting in the fridge ,added 1 tea vanilla & changed it to 1 tea cinnamon.

The bread browns pretty quickly, so when the top was brown enough for me, I layed a piece of foil on top of it. Also, the directions say to lightly grease pan, which I did. Next time I will spray (Pam) it a little more. The bread tried desperately to stick to the pan. After I ran a knife around the edges, it came out.

I will keep this as a good go to bread recipe. I think it could be quite versatile. It's sturdy & moist. I liked it. Hope you do too.

Applesauce Nut Bread

6 tbsp butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 cup chopped, toasted pecans or walnuts
coarse sugar, for topping

No need to preheat the oven, just lightly grease an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch baking pan (not a 9×5).In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by the applesauce.In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. By hand, or with a mixer on low speed, beat flour mixture into applesauce mixture. Stir in toasted nuts and pour into prepared pan. Top with coarse sugar, if desired.Place pan in a cold oven and turn oven on to 350F.Bake for 80-90 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean and the top of the loaf is browned.Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 1 loaf.