Substituting applesauce for butter/oil?

Every once in a while I see the health benefits of this substitution touted somewhere. Depending on the place, the recommendations usually suggest substituting applesauce for anywhere between one-third and one-half of the butter/oil. While I have no doubt that it's a healthy substitution, I have two critical questions for those who have actually done it: (1) how does the substitution affect structure and (2) how does it affect texture? FWIW, my likeliest candidates for substitution would be in breads, both quick and yeast.

The substitution works fairly well for quick breads, maintaining structure and moistness. Some quick bread recipes are real oil bombs-- like Nantucket Morning Glory muffins, holy cats. These might even benefit from some applesauce.

However, for yeast breads I would be hesitant-- most yeast breads have very little oil/butter anyway and those with lots of butter (e.g., brioche) would not benefit from substitution.

Cheers, Jen

i have not done it but have always been interested. I have heard it done in brownies, quick breads and other cakes. There was a guy named Don Mauer who used to have a column named Lean and Loving it and he wrote about how to reduce fat in cakes by mostly using applesauce which was drained. I've included the link to his web site if you have time to read it, he uses drained unsweetened applesauce and he has a few recipes up there.

http://www.theleanwizard.com/low-fat-bundt-cake.htm

I have subbed in applesauce in some quick breads/muffins in the past. To me, baked goods tend to come out a bit less fluffy/springy, but it's tolerable for the first day. However, texture, moisture, flavor, etc all go south really quickly and by Day Two it's dry / leaden city.

Ironically, I was just making a chewy ginger cookie recipe from Ready for Dessert a couple of weeks ago that called only for applesauce. I actually subbed oil back in. They turned out great!