apple cinnamon bread
Last Sunday, I posted a mysterious photo on my Instagram and Facebook pages of a lonely apple, stating that something was cooking with this glorious fruit in my kitchen. I never thought that a photo of an apple could create such hype! I wasn’t planning on sharing another sweet recipe with you so soon — definitely not one with apples after I talked about these apple and all-bran muffins not so long ago — but after numerous requests asking what the apple was for I couldn’t wait any longer! Especially since the result was way too good to be kept secret.
Sunday is my lazing baking day, where I make so many goodies to eat during the week or to freeze for the nights that I come home too late from work to cook up a storm. After making this breakfast banana bread so many times, I decided to give another type of bread a go, and looking at a lonely apple sitting in my fruit basket I thought why not try baking an apple bread? Having no recipe of my own, I went over to my dear friend Google for inspiration. Did you know that Google has 136,000,000 recipes for apple cinnamon bread? Needless to say that I spent hours looking for one that seemed perfectly sweet and crunchy while making my apple the highlight of the show. That’s when I discovered The Happier Homemaker’s Cinnamon Apple Bread, which judging by the photos and the +100 comments, seemed like a recipe that would satisfy my sweet cravings. Plus, The Happier Homemaker guaranteed that it would be an easy recipe — and was she right!
I tweaked her recipe just barely, reducing just slightly the brown sugar and cinnamon needed for the sweet topping and using a bit less vanilla extract than she recommended. The rest is as she stated, so all the credit goes to The Happier Homemaker for such a delectable breakfast bread! Actually, it’s so amazing that it deserves to be eaten not only for breakfast, but for lunch, dinner, and as a midnight snack as well.
On the outside this apple cinnamon bread seems to feature apples just on the top, but once you slice it you discover a sugary layer of apple chunks that sit neatly in a line. The trick to creating such a lovely design is by pouring only half of the vanilla batter first, placing the chopped apples layered with a cinnamon-brown sugar topping over it, then covering the whole with another layer of vanilla batter. The batter is then topped with another layer of apple and cinnamon-brown sugar topping before being cooked in the oven for 50 minutes.
Let me tell you that the smell of this bread cooking in the oven was one of the most amazing yet. It invaded my kitchen, got my tummy rumbling, and made me impatiently wait for the bread to cool down before slicing it and tasting it. The Happier Homemaker was right — it looks complicated to bake but is in fact so easy, but even better is the fact that it tastes like heaven and made me want to eat it for breakfast every day. It’s a shame that it only lasted 3 days before the last crumbs were gone!
one month ago: coconut macaroons
- ¼ cup (50g) brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 large apple
- ½ cup (115g) butter or margarine, softened
- ⅔ cup (133g) granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (185g) all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ cup (1.2dl) milk or soy milk
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C and grease and flour a loaf pan.
- In a small mixing bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside to use later.
- Peel and dice your apples and set aside in a small bowl to use later.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and granulated sugar until creamy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.
- Gradually add the flour and baking powder and continue to beat on medium speed until combined. Add milk and beat until just combined.
- Pour half of the batter into the loaf pan and top with half of the apples. Using the back of a spoon, lightly push the apples into the batter. Top with half of the cinnamon mixture.
- Pour the other half of the batter over the apple and cinnamon mixture. Top with the remaining apples and cinnamon mixture. Pat lightly with the back of a spoon.
- Bake in preheated oven for 50 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a toothpick in the center of the bread to check if it comes out clean.
- Let the bread cool in its pan before turning it over on a serving platter, about 30-45 minutes.
MAKE IT DAIRY-FREE: replace the butter with margarine and the milk with soy milk
HOW TO STORE IT: this bread keeps well on the kitchen counter, wrapped, for 3 days. You can also freeze it, tightly wrapped, for up to 3 months.
How did your apple cinnamon bread come out? Share photos of your recipe on Instagram by tagging #savormania