Zucchini Bread Experiment

Well, there's only a hundred zucchinis on our three plants. So naturally, I have enough to make twice that much zucchini bread! I thought I'd do a little experiment. I made the ol' fashioned, full fat, yummy quick bread (#1). Then I made the same recipe only used applesauce instead of oil and splenda instead of sugar (#2). Then I made a Zucchini Coconut Bread (#3). 

#1

I'm sure all of you have had the original zucchini bread so it's not worth repeating what it is like other than a typical quick bread. It was moist, fluffy, great taste and well half eaten.

This was the recipe I used:

3 1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

3 c. sugar

1c. vegetable oil

4 eggs beaten

1/3 c. water

2 c. grated zucchini

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (I didn't use any because I like plain only and not in my food.)

Preheat oven to 350*. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon, and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray for 1 hour or until tester comes out clean. 

#2

The second, was made with applesauce instead of vegetable oil and splenda instead of  sugar. The 'healthier' version has pretty good taste but the texture has something to desire. It's pretty rubbery and just not as comporting as the original. 

#3

This version is quite good with a texture close to bread pudding, just less liquid and a little more done, very dense bread. It is made with coconut oil witch is a saturated fat but the fats that it is made of are known to increase metabolism and promote weight loss. 

Recipe is followed:

3/4 c. loosely packed shredded zucchini 

6 eggs, separated

1/2 c. coconut milk (or 2 more eggs)

1/2 coconut oil (or butter) melted

1/2 c. Just Like Sugar (I used splenda because I didn't have any)

1 tsp. pure vanilla

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. sea salt

3/4 c. coconut flour (I only had AP)

1 tsp. baking powder

Preheat oven to 350*. Grease a loaf pan w/ coconut oil or butter. Separate 4 eggs into two bowls. Whip the egg whites until very fluffy. (I didn't get it that fluffy so I'm sure that's why it was so dense.) In the other bowl, blend together the 4 egg yolks, zucchini, oil, coconut milk, sweetener, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Then add the other 2 eggs (or 4 if no coconut milk), one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine coconut flour and baking powder and sift into batter. Blend until there are no lumps. Fold in nuts. Gently fold in egg whites into the batter. Pour into greased pan. Top with unsweetened coconut flakes and bake for 60 min. or until toothpick comes out clean. 

 The one on the left is made with applesauce, one on the right (it was still hot when I put it on the plate so it fell apart on me) is the traditional bread and the bottom one is the coconut zucchini bread. 

Nutritional comparison:

Traditional= 377 calories, 43 carbs, 2 fiber

Coconut= 135 calories, 5.2 carbs, 2.3g. fiber.

unknown on the applesauce version.

(Those are in the order of my favorites but the calorie difference may switch the first two around!)