Today’s healthy diet means cutting down on fat, not just calories. Yet, if you’re like most people, you still want to enjoy your favorite foods-especially delicious desserts- without sacrificing taste. Modern cooks have come up with solution to the question of how to achieve a balance between the delicious, satisfying food we love and our concerns about calories and fat. How is this achieved you ask? Well, fats typically provide the moisture and texture that make foods taste good and apple sauce makes an excellent fat substitute in several baked good recipes. It creates the desired moisture and texture with no fat, no cholesterol and only 50 calories per four-ounce serving. A half cup of butter or oil contains roughly 800-1000 calories.  Imagine the calorie savings when you substitute some of your oil or butter for applesauce in a recipe. Here is a recipe for banana bread courtesy of Mott’s Apple Sauce. You will notice that the egg yolks are left out to further reduce the fat in the recipe. Hint: I buy the 6-pack of single serving applesauce and keep the rest in the cupboard for another day.

Lower Fat Banana Bread

2 ½ cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp ground allspice
4 ripe medium bananas, mashed (2 cups)
1 cup sugar
½ cup Mott’s Unsweetened Apple Sauce
3 egg whites
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 8 ½ x 4 ½ -inch loaf pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and allspice.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together bananas, sugar, apple sauce, egg whites, oil and vanilla.
4. Stir apple sauce mixture into flour mixture just until moistened. Spread batter into prepared pan.
5. Bake 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Invert onto wire rack; turn right side up. Cool completely. Cut into 16 slices.