Maple and Walnut Quick Bread

My Cooking Light magazines have a terrible habit of arriving in the mail right during my most hectic times at school when I should be studying instead of perusing magazines. This month was no exception, though it was an exceptional issue. I found myself flagging tons of recipes. All the food looked so seasonal and fresh and light. Plus a lot of it used ingredients I have on hand or know where to get.

I was up early Sunday morning before church with little to no appetite for anything in the house when I remembered this quick bread recipe in the Cooking Light issue so I whipped it up for later. I'm a sucker for quick breads but they often have quite a bit of oil and sugar in them. Without any walnut oil, I substituted applesauce, though I would definitely recommend the walnut oil.

The flavor in this loaf is very subtle, and I would say that the maple flavor develops better the next day. The crunchiness of the walnuts on top add a great textural balance to the chewy loaf. This was featured in a spread about healthy fats and noted that walnuts are a great source of poly-unsaturated fats. Plus they taste delicious!

Maple and Walnut Quick Bread
source: May 2009 issue

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup low-fat buttermik
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup walnut oil
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Cooking spray
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts, toasted

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350-degrees and grease an 8x4 inch loaf pan.
2. Combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Combine buttermilk, syrup, oil, and egg in a separate bowl.
4. Making a well in the center of the dry mixture, pour the wet mixture into the center of the dry mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in vanilla.
5. Spoon batter into the loaf pan and sprinkle with walnuts.
6. Bake at 350-degrees for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Yield: 1 loaf, serving size: 1 slice
Calories 178; Fat 6.5 g (sat 0.8g, mono 1.4g, poly 3.9g); Protein 3.6 g; Carb 27.5 g; Fiber 1.3 g; Chol 16 mg; Iron 1.1 mg; Sodium 224 mg; Calc 73 mg