Lighter Zucchini Bread Doesn’t Lack Flavor

If you crave yummy quick breads but hate eating too much fat and too many calories, try these easy tips for baking lighter:

Substitute egg whites for whole eggs. In general, two egg whites equals one whole egg.

Reduce the amount of oil, butter or margarine by at least half. Make up for the difference by adding an equal amount of mashed fruit, such as applesauce, bananas or apricot baby food. (Eliminating the oil, butter or margarine completely often results in a rubbery taste.)

Reduce or eliminate the amount of nuts called for in the recipe.

Using these simple steps, we were able to reduce the fat in a slice of zucchini bread by more than half and shave off an easy 80 calories without losing any delicious flavor or moist texture.

Most of the reduction in fat grams in Low-Fat Zucchini Bread comes from using only one-fourth of the original amount of oil. A cup of unsweetened applesauce keeps the bread moist without making it soggy.

And the slimmed-down bread is still plenty nutty using just 1 cup of nuts instead of 1-1/2 cups. If you leave out the nuts, you can reduce fat and calories even further; without walnuts, Low-Fat Zucchini Bread has a mere 2.8 grams of fat and 188 calories per slice.

Low-Fat Zucchini Bread

3 egg whites

2 cups sugar

1/4 cup canola oil

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3 cups sifted all-purpose unbleached flour

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

2 cups grated fresh zucchini (about 2 small zucchini)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly coat the bottom and sides of two 8- by 4-by 2-1/2-inch loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine the egg whites, sugar, canola oil and applesauce. Beat on medium speed with an electric mixer until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is foamy. Add the cinnamon, vanilla and salt and beat until combined.

In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda, baking powder, sifted flour and chopped nuts. Stir to mix ingredients and coat nuts in flour.

Dump the flour mixture into the applesauce mixture and beat on low speed just until the liquid ingredients begin to show through the dry ones. Turn off mixer. Add the zucchini and mix the ingredients by hand, using a flexible spatula or wooden spoon, until no flour shows.

Pour batter into prepared pans. Bake 50 to 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of each loaf comes out clean. Cool on racks for 15-20 minutes, then remove from pans and cool completely.

Yield: 2 loaves (24 slices).

Nutrition information per slice: 220 calories, 6 grams protein, 39 grams carbohydrate, 5.9 grams fat (24 percent fat calories), no cholesterol, 137 milligrams sodium.

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