My Own Throwdown: Apple vs Banana Bread

So I recently signed up for Urban Organic, which is basically produce in a box once a week. It's super fresh, local when it can be, and saves me the hassle of having to buy fruits and veggies every week. Yes, it's a bit hippie dippie too. But the greatest thing about it? You get all sorts of produce that you would never buy in the first place which pushes you to experiment with cooking.

But long story short. Pros of the produce box: new food, new recipes. Cons: race to finish the produce before it goes bad.

Given that it's fall, apples have been a staple of the box these past few weeks, and with the abundance of apples (and bananas) that I've gotten I decided to make apple bread on Wednesday and compare it to the lowfat banana bread I made on Monday. The outcome?



A much denser cake than my lowfat banana bread, but I think I liked it better. Stan likes the banana better. And in my throwdown picture, they both look pretty unappetizing. I should take a food photography class or something.

Apple Bread
(recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

3-4 apples
2 tsp cinnamon
3 tbsp honey

3/4 cups white flour
3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup applesauce (or yogurt)
1/2 cups sugar
1/8 cups orange juice
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan. Peel, core and chop apples into chunks. Toss with cinnamon and sugar and set aside.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together oil, orange juice, sugar and vanilla. Mix wet ingredients into the dry ones, then add eggs, one at a time. Scrape down the bowl to ensure all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour half of batter into prepared pan. Spread half of apples over it. Pour the remaining batter over the apples and arrange the remaining apples on top. Bake for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.