Almost Healthy Pumpkin Zucchini Bread

Happy Monday everyone! We had such a great weekend watching general conference–Reagan was good the whole time so we actually got to listen to the talks which was a welcome surprise!

Traditionally I spend most of general conference weekend baking, and this weekend was no different! I am so excited to share some of the goodies I baked up, they were all easy, tasty and perfect for Fall!

After the success of last weeks pumpkin banana bread I decided to keep with the trend and see what else I could add pumpkin to–that’s where inspiration for this pumpkin zucchini bread came in! As an added twist, I wanted to make something a little healthier since I’ve really been indulging in baked goods recently. This recipe has no butter, very little added sugar, and a whole lot of zucchini! The great thing about added pumpkin is that it naturally sweetens the bread reducing the need for sugar. I substituted unsweetened applesauce for butter and I think it made the bread even more moist…yum!

I was browsing zucchini bread recipes and found one that called for over 2 cups of sugar–that is crazy! I did the math and that worked out to consuming about 30 grams of sugar per slice of bread…no thank you! I am all about indulging in really good baking, but if I’m making something myself there is no way I’m adding that much sugar! Instead, I used all natural honey and cut the sugar to 1/4 cup, enough to make the bread sweet but much more reasonable.

Hubby and I both really enjoyed this recipe, I hope you like it too!

 

Almost Healthy Pumpkin Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp all natural honey

2 large eggs

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

1 large zucchini

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

Chocolate chips (optional)

 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan and set aside.

2. Grate zucchini. Using paddle attachment on a mixer, blend applesauce, sugar and honey until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add the pumpkin puree and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, salt, and spices, Add slowly to the pumpkin mixture until just combined. Gently fold in the grated zucchini until well dispersed.

4. Pour batter into pan and bake for 60 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan and allowing to cool on a rack.

Enjoy! Funny story, I didn’t realize I hadn’t unpacked my grater yet until I started making this bread, so I used our Ninja blender to chop the zucchini and it totally worked! And it took five seconds. If you go this route though make sure you get all the big chunks chopped up without overly pureeing the zucchini.