Vegan Applesauce Bread

I absolutely love Jenna's blog Eat Live Run. Her quirky sense of humor and down-to-earth personality are so warm and inviting. She's a fantastic cook, too! It seems like every day I bookmark a new recipe of Jenna's to try.

Last week, Jenna posted this beauty. I wanted to eat some right away. Seriously...my mind would drift at work and all I could think about was apple spice bread. 

Since Hubby and I do our best to eat healthy, I decided to tweak Jenna's recipe a bit to bump up the nutrition factor. I cut down on the sugar a bit, substituted all applesauce for the apple/applesauce combo, and used whole wheat flour. My inner pseudo-vegan decided to use flax eggs and canola oil to make it vegan, too. (Yes, vegan baked goods can be delicious!) Sadly, I left off the apple cider glaze, but I bet it would be awesome on anything :) This bread turned out delicious: moist, fragrant, and full of that cozy fall flavor we all love. Store it wrapped in foil and inside a plastic bag on your counter so it doesn't dry out.

Vegan Applesauce Bread

adapted from and inspired by Jenna's Apple Spice Bread with Apple Cider Glaze

Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons ground flaxseed, mixed with 6 tablespoons water. Allow to sit for 5 minutes until a "gel" forms)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (doesn't have to be packed, I eyeballed it)
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 1 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Set aside.
• In another large bowl, whisk together the flax eggs, brown sugar, molasses, canola oil, and applesauce. Add wet ingredients to dry and mix until just combined.
• Scrape batter into a greased loaf pan and bake for 25-30, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

Fresh out of the oven...yum!

Next time I'll cut a bigger slice :)