Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Vegan Sweet Potato Bread

I am back from the great wild yonder! Boy have I missed blogging. But I am happy to say that my absence has been due to the fact that we bought a house and moved in! For the first time ever I have a real kitchen to work in. No more tiny closet size apartment kitchens. So consequently I have a backlog of recipes that I need to post since I have been testing the limits of my new kitchen.

As we were moving, I noticed that I still have a surplus of leftover jarred baby food that my son no longer eats. So I decided to set to work on finding creative ways to cook the baby food into our meals so it wouldn't go to waste. But since we had just moved and I hadn't gone to the grocery store yet, we were running a little shy on baking supplies (ie: milk, eggs, butter...). Well, if you've read my previous posts you would know that any time you are out of milk, eggs, or butter, it is a perfect time to try a vegan recipe since it doesn't require any of those ingredients.

What I came up with was a dense, delicious sweet potato bread that eventually condensed into what tasted more like cake with each passing day. And best of all, I was able to use up quite a bit of baby food! Of course, most people don't have baby food sitting around their house so I will make note of what you can use instead. But seriously. As a salute to fall and as a gift to your taste buds, you've got to give this recipe a try. Not to mention, when you bake it, your house is going to smell heavenly.



Vegan Sweet Potato Bread

Ingredients:
4 1/2 teaspoons Ener-G Egg replacer (equivalent of 3 eggs)
6 tablespoons water
2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups unsweetened applesauce (I used baby food apple sauce even though it was sweetened)
14-ounces jarred baby food sweet potato (or a 14-ounce can of sweet potato puree)
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly oil two 8-inch loaf pans.

In a small bowl, whip together the egg replacer and water until creamy.

In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, applesauce, sweet potato puree, and egg mixture.

In a medium-size bowl, stir together the flour, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Thoroughly combine the dry ingredients, then add them to the wet. Stir until just combined.

Spoon the batter into prepared loaf pans. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Let the bread cool for at least 20 minutes before removing from the loaf pans. This is important, as the bread is still baking and needs time to coalesce in the hot pan.