Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Carrot-Apple Sauce-Banana Bread


The description of this loaf on grouprecipes.com says it all:

"This moist bread combines banana and carrots for a different take on a lowfat banana bread."

We make banana bread. We make carrot bread. The ingredients for each are basically the same. Why not combine the two?

I heartily agree.

I've been experimenting with healthy bread recipes that Mr. Bread Maiden and I can enjoy, but can also double as teething biscuits for Little Bread Baby.

My first recipe was the Crunchy Teething Biscuit Recipe.

I must not have baked it for long enough, because by the time it had fully cooled, it had sunken in the middle and was still quite wet and mushy.

Even so, with the second baking, they firmed up and LBB loved them. I even made little french toast sticks with them.

So this time around, I picked just a regular bread recipe. This One.

I had carrots and bananas on hand, and made quick work grating an apple for the applesauce.


Then I added the two eggs to comprise the wet ingredients.


Mix up the wet ingredients.


Now on to the dry ingredients.


Oops! What is that baking powder doing in the picture? I never used baking powder.


There, that's better.

Mix up two cups flour and one cup of sugar. I did one cup each of Whole Wheat and AP flour. Next time I think I'll cut way down on the sugar.


For some fun, I threw in some freshly-grated nutmeg.


Whisk the flour, sugar and nutmeg together with the salt and baking soda.


Now bring the wet ingredients and the dry ingredients side by side.


And mix the dry into the wet, a little at a time, with a spoon. Don't stir too much!


Now pour into a greased bread pan and pop in a 350 degree oven for about an hour.


Pull it out and let it cool.


Yummy.

But you aren't done yet!

Once the loaf is completely cool, slice it into 1-inch-thick slices.


Then divide each slice into thirds.


Place the pieces onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.


Bake until they are a little dry and crispy, about 20-30 minutes.

Once they are cool, enjoy! These taste really good (probably because of all the sugar). LBB ate one already and loved it.

You can really do this with any bread. Just slice it already-baked bread and bake at 350 until it has the consistency of biscotti.


What, you didn't know biscotti just means "twice-baked?"

Maybe if I call these "biscotti" instead of "teething biscuits" my baby will become a little foodie.




Or not.