Gingerbread Loaf

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It’s the holiday season and nothing could be more festive than Gingerbread Loaf made with SPLENDA®.  Aromatic spices, nutmeg cream cheese frosting and candied ginger pair perfectly with a nice hot cup of coffee to jump-start your holiday shopping, caroling or gift wrapping on a joyous note. 

I know I’ve begun every blog post this holiday season asking if you’ve started your….  well this post is no exception.  Have you started your gift wrapping yet?  And here comes my honesty, I have not.  And to be brutally honest, it is my least favorite thing to do.  Now my mother has a knack for it.  Every single present is expertly wrapped, with an adorable matching tag and curly ribbon, bows and sparklers to taboot.  The woman has got it going on in the gift wrapping department.  Puts all of my packages to shame.

I usually wait until the day before Christmas Eve, lock myself in my office and frantically go to work while sipping on copious amounts of coffee and blasting the jolly tunes.  I’m not sure what makes me such a Scrooge about the whole process.  Maybe the fact my children will rip through the packages in less than 36 hours, paying little to no attention at all to what’s on the paper and only caring about what’s in the inside.  LOL, yep that’s probably it.  But what I will say is one of my favorite things of the season, the look on their faces when they know they made the nice list this year and Santa brought them exactly what they asked for.

The holiday season is a busy time for everyone.  When I’m out and about and have forgotten to eat (yes, I know, how in the World does this happen) I always find myself grabbing a candy bar, piece of loaf cake at the coffee shop or worse, a package of cookies that somehow ends up missing half the package when I’m finished.  ?  Well I use to work at said coffee shop and while I absolutely love their gingerbread loaf, I do not love the amount of sugar, fat and calories that come with one piece of it.  I was on a mission to find an alternative, so I could enjoy the gingerbread loaf at home while not feeling so guilty when eating 1 piece of it.  There are so many sweets around the holidays but I don’t want to go into sugar coma while enjoying them.

I’ve always been a big fan of SPLENDA® It’s a sweet swap that I have used in my coffee, to replace sugar, for years.  I always have a bag of it at home but I was running really low so I headed to Wal-Mart to replenish.  The holiday aisle is right before the baking aisle so I headed down it while my belly started to grumble.  All the peppermint, gingerbread and chocolate looked heavenly and that’s when it hit me.  I’m going to replace the sugar in the famous gingerbread loaf with SPLENDA® and skip all those extra calories while not missing out on any of the sweetness.  To the baking aisle I headed with a slight skip in my step.

I grabbed a box of SPLENDA® Granulated No Calorie Sweetener and headed home to see how my Sweet Swaps™ idea would turn out.

When I got home I laid out all the ingredients I would need to make the Gingerbread Loaf

I started by placing the SPLENDA® and butter into the stand mixer and beating them together until they were creamy.  I then added the rest of the wet ingredients which include the egg, applesauce and vanilla.  When that was all incorporated, I whisked the flours and spices together, in a separate bowl and slowly added them to the mixer.

After everything was combined, I placed the batter into a greased 9 x 5 x 2″ pan and placed it into a 35 degree oven.  The gingerbread loaf baked for 40 minutes and when a toothpick was inserted into the center it came out clean.

I allowed the loaf to cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then removed it and allowed it to cool on a wire rack until it was cool to the touch.

 While the loaf cooled, I began to work on the nutmeg cream cheese frosting I would be placing on the top.  I decided to make powdered sugar from  SPLENDA® and found the recipe located on their website here

I placed the cream cheese into the stand mixer and mixed until it was fluffy.  Then, I slowly added in the SPLENDA® powdered sugar followed by the vanilla and orange extract.

When the frosting was finished, I spread it all over the cooled gingerbread loaf, sprinkled on some nutmeg and placed the candied ginger on top.

Don’t you just want to sink your teeth into that moist, aromatic gingerbread loaf?  It pairs perfectly with a hot cup of coffee first thing in the morning and it’s a delightful afternoon snack.  I was so pleasantly surprised at how well the SPLENDA® sweetened this bread and how many calories I saved by using the Sweet Swaps™ Idea.

Print

Gingerbread Loaf

Prep 5 mins

Cook 40 mins

Total 45 mins

Author Strawberry Blondie Kitchen

Yield 10

It's the holiday season and nothing could be more festive than a classic Gingerbread Loaf made with SPLENDA®. Aromatic spices, nutmeg cream cheese frosting and candied ginger pair perfectly with a nice hot cup of coffee to jump start your holiday shopping, caroling or gift wrapping on a joyous note.

Ingredients

• 1 cup SPLENDA® Granulated No Calorie Sweetener
• 4 tablespoon butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cup All Natural Applesauce
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour
• 3/4 cup All Purpose Flour Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Cream Cheese Frosting
• 4 ounces Neufchâtel cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup SPLENDA® powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon orange extract
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/8 cup candied ginger, diced

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9 x 5 x 2" pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a mixer, add SPLENDA® and butter and cream together
3. Add in applesauce, egg and orange extract.
4. In a medium size bowl, mix together flours, spices, salt and baking soda.
5. In stages, add your dry ingredients into your wet ingredients, in the mixing bowl.
6. Mix together until well incorporated and pour into prepared pan.
7. Bake for 40 minutes and check with a toothpick to make sure it comes out clean. If not, return to oven and check for doneness every 5 minutes.
8. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. While the gingerbread loaf is cooling, beat your cream cheese in a mixing bowl until fluffy. Slowly add in your *SPLENDA® powdered sugar and when incorporated, add in your extracts.
10. Once the loaf is completely cooled, spread your cream cheese frosting on top and sprinkle on your nutmeg.
11. Garnish the top with candied ginger.

Notes

*Recipe for SPLENDA® powdered sugar can be found here

Courses Bread

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 10

Amount Per Serving
Calories 158
% Daily Value
Total Fat 8 g		12%
	Saturated Fat 5 g	25%
Cholesterol 41 mg		14%
Sodium 417 mg		17%
Total Carbohydrates 21 g		7%
	Dietary Fiber 2 g	8%
	Sugars 6 g
Protein 4 g		8%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Over the original recipe, this SPLENDA® Sweet Swaps™ Recipe for Gingerbread Loaf saved 291 calories, 9 grams of fat and 48 grams of sugar, per slice!  Now that is quite a savings and all without sacrificing any flavor and sweetness!  That’s a holiday miracle!

To explore the different varieties of SPLENDA® check out the Wal-Mart brand page.  They offer SPLENDA® in bags, packets, minis (perfect for your purse) and they also have a brown sugar blend!

For more inspiration and recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snack time and how you can use SPLENDA® for more Sweet Swaps™ Ideas, be sure to check out this page.

Add a little more sweetness to your holiday with this $500 GIVEAWAY!!  It’s super easy to enter, just follow the instructions below:

J&J Holiday Baking with Splenda

SPLENDA® also has a wonderful YouTube channel, Pinterest and Facebook where you can find even more delicious, creative recipes, tips and tricks on how to swap full sugar for SPLENDA® Sweetener Products in order to save calories this holiday season and all year-long.

How do you plan to use SPLENDA® this holiday season?  I’d love to hear your recipe ideas in the comments section below!

Enjoy and if you make this recipe, please share a photo on social media and hashtag it #strawberryblondiekitchen I ♥ to see your versions!  Happy Eating!