Apple Gingerbread

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 35 minutes
Makes 7 mini-loaves
Calories: 368 calories per loaf
Source: Better Food for Kids


Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1/3 cup 2% milk
• 1 medium apple, peeled and grated or 1 individual serving of packaged applesauce

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350.
• In a medium bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt.
• In a large bowl, cream together butter, eggs and molasses.
• Stir dry ingredients into wet, a little at a time and alternating with small additions of milk.
• Fold in apples or applesauce; pour into greased mini-loaf pans.
• Bake 35 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
• Allow to cool on a wire rack.

When I first made this recipe, we had no apples around, so I substituted the applesauce and it worked just fine - plus it's a lot easier to peel the lid off the applesauce than it is to peel, core and chop an apple!  I baked a single, large loaf a couple of times, but it always seemed to remain uncooked in the middle even though it was starting to burn around the edges.  I find the mini-loaves bake much more evenly, plus they're a lot easier to pack in a lunch box.  A whole bunch of these loaves even came with me on the ET Highway after being stored in the freezer for a while - they dried out a little bit, but they were still quite delicious!