Low-Fat Pumpkin Apple Bread

Fall is my favorite time of year, and I was happy when I saw pumpkin recipes popping up on other blogs, so I decided to try one for myself. Along with pumpkins, apples are another one of my fall favorites, so I decided to make a pumpkin apple bread. I attended an Apple Butter Festival a few weeks ago, where they were making fresh apple butter on site. I purchased some of that apple butter, and I figured it would be a great substitute for the oil that is found in most quick breads. Even better, it makes the bread low-fat!


Low-Fat Pumpkin Apple Bread
-makes 2 9x5 loaves (I made one 9x5 loaf and three mini-loaves)

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup granulated white sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup apple butter
• 1 can (15 oz.) pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1/2 cup apple cider or water
• 2 cups apples, diced (I used Honey Crisp apples)

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour your loaf pans.
-In a medium-sized bowl, combine flour, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
-In a large mixing bowl, combine white sugar, brown sugar, eggs, apple butter, pumpkin, and water. Mix until just combined.
-Add the flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and beat until just combined. Make sure not to over mix or the batter will become tough. Gently fold in the apples into the batter and pour into the prepared loaf pans. (If using the two 9x5 loaf pans, divide the batter equally between the two pans. For my loaves, I poured half the batter into the 9x5 loaf pan, and I divided the remaining half equally between the three mini-loaf pans.)
-Bake the 9x5 loaf (or loaves) for about 60 minutes and the mini-loaves for about 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaves comes out clean. Let them cool in the pans for 10 minutes on a wire rack, before turning them out onto the wire rack to cool completely.


Notes: This is a really nice low-fat version of a quick bread. It is extremely moist, and not too sweet, you can't even tell that there is hardly any fat in the bread. If you prefer a sweeter bread, you could always add some more sugar. Neither the pumpkin flavor nor the apple butter flavor is too prominent, but the two flavors blend subtly together, and the apples add just the right amount of texture and tartness to the bread. A very simple, mildly spiced bread. A perfect fall treat that isn't too bad for you.