Zucchini Bread - Two Ways

Leanne D got me to thinking about zucchini bread.  I had some zucchini in the fridge and decided to treat the kids at school tomorrow, who, I'm sure, will be sorely disappointed when they find out they aren't getting a snow day.  So I pulled out my trusty cookbook and went to one of my favorite recipes.

Since Leanne insists that her zucchini bread is a favorite because she uses whole wheat flour, I decided to give it a try.  I made one batch for the kids the traditional way with white flour and whole sugar.  I made a second, heart-healthier version with whole wheat and half the sugar.  Both versions worked well. This is my favorite zucchini bread recipe and it comes from a church cookbook my grandmother gave me when I was in my early 20s.  But more on that later.

In both recipes, I substituted applesauce for the oil.  In the whole wheat batch, I substituted sucralose for half the sugar, and since I was a bit low on zucchini by that point, I added a few carrots to round it out.  The first batch was just as expected.  It produced a nice, high loaf.  The whole wheat batch looked a little different.  It didn't rise as high and I attribute that to the decreased sugar.  Sugar creates texture as well as taste.  Sucralose just dissolves and offers no structure at all.  Because the sugar didn't react with the zucchini as much in the second batch, it was much thicker and the crust is a bit craggy looking.  The loaf is denser as well.  Although applesauce will never recreate the tender crumb that you get with oil, it is a small price to pay for the decreased calories.  In any event, both batches produced great looking and great tasting loaves.  Thanks for the great suggestion, Leanne!

Ingredients:
3 cups flour (all purpose or whole wheat)
3 whole eggs, beaten
1 cup applesauce, no sugar added (or oil, depending on your preference)
2 cups sugar (or one cup sugar and one cup sucralose)
1 T cinnamon
2 T vanilla extract
1 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
1 t salt
2 cups shredded zucchini

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat eggs, add sugar, vanilla, and zucchini.  Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.  Pour into two greased and floured loaf pans and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour until a toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.  Allow to cool completely before cutting. 

Nutritional Information.

Servings size: 2 loaves, 8 slices per loaf or 16 servings

Kcal: 204

Fat: 1 g

Carbohydrates: 48g  Dietary fiber: 4g

Protein: 4g

Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 4 (made with whole wheat, 1/2 sucralose, and applesauce)

Yum!