Applesauce Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Bread

I have VERY happy co-workers this morning. Why? Because I brought in two loaves of homemade applesauce oatmeal cinnamon chip bread. Why? Because we have so much applesauce in our freezer that we're getting accosted by it when we open the big freezer in our basement. It was time to take action!!

A very good family friend is an AMAZING cook/baker. (I remember taking a stained glass cookie class from her when I was probably 8 or 9 years old). Anywho, After deciding to put the applesauce to use sooner rather than later, I looked on our family friend's web-based recipe collection and saw an entry for Applesauce Oatmeal bread. Unfortunately, the link to the recipe was broken and she didn't recall the recipe. Bummer! To solve the problem, I did what I often do when I need a recipe... I turned to the Internet. I ran across a recipe on the King Arthur Flour site that looked promising and then ran across a recipe from a blog called Tracy's Culinary Adventures that was loosely based on the King Arthur Flour recipe. (It felt like the baking gods were telling me something.) SO, I decided to use those recipes as inspiration and dive in using those recipes as my jumping-off point.

Annika's eyes about popped out of her head when she took her first bite of the bread. For a half second, I couldn't tell if she loved or despised the bite in her mouth. Another half second later, I realized that she was infatuated. Win!!

Without further ado, here is my version of the applesauce oatmeal bread recipes I discovered online.

One of the plates of bread I left out for my co-workers

Applesauce Oatmeal Cinnamon Chip Bread ala Meredith

(I doubled this and made 2 loaves and 2 mini loaves)

3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground clove
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup oats
1 cup applesauce (I used homemade)
1/2 bag of cinnamon chips (I use Hershey's brand - found on baking aisle by the chocolate chips)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Pam a 9x5-inch bread pan, line the pan with parchment paper, then Pam the parchment paper.
3. Mix all ingredients (except cinnamon chips) in stand mixer or by hand until all ingredients are incorporated.
4. Gently mix in the cinnamon chips.
5. Pour or spoon the batter to the prepared pan. (I had a bit more than would fit in the pan, so I put the extra in a disposable mini 2x4-inch bread pan.)
6. Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
7. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes, remove bread from pan and parchment paper, allow the bread to  completely cool on wire rack.