"Makeover" Banana Bread

I got this recipe from the October 2008 edition of Ladies Home Journal magazine. It has taken me this long to try it out, which now that I have, is kind of making me mad at myself!!
The Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup applesauce (all-natural!!)

2Tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs, beaten

1/1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3)

First step was to mash those bananas...Did you know that bananas are much easier to peel from the bottom end? It's true! No knife needed, no smashed tip and it preemptively removes the little stinger from the end. Even the little kids can easily peel a banana from the bottom. Give it a try :)

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In another bowl, whisk together sugar, applesauce, oil and vanilla.

Whisk in eggs until combined. Using a large spoon, stir in banana.

Gradually stir in flour mixture until just combined. Evenly pour into prepared pan. As you can see, I didn't go the traditional loaf pan route with this bread. I made some mini loaves using aluminum molds I had on hand.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes to one hour (if using a loaf pan) or for 15 to 20 minutes if using the mini loaves like me. Be sure to do the toothpick test to check for doneness!

The original recipe differs in the amount of sugar and oil  (1 cup and 1/2 cup respectively) and does not include the applesauce. Making this change saves you 70 calories PER SERVING!! and 6.5 grams of fat PER SERVING!!!! So I think it was worth the quick trip to the store for applesauce! The only change I will make next time is to add some chopped pecans to the batter.

**UPDATE**

I made them again today in muffin and jumbo muffins. I had the pecans and forgot to put them in the batter so I sprinkled them on top. The jumbo muffins took 23 minutes to cook and the regular muffins took 17 minutes.