by Sandra Merville Hart

When I had the opportunity to bake a breakfast dish for a gathering at church, I decided to play around with a recipe for apple bread. This one received lots of compliments!  

Ingredients

2 cups peeled apples, thinly sliced and then halved

2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar, divided

3 teaspoons cinnamon, divided

2 cups sifted bread flour (or all-purpose flour)

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ cup (4 tablespoons) butter

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a bread baking pan with cooking spray.

Sift the flour into a medium mixing bowl. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and stir. Set aside.

After peeling the apples (3 small apples provide about 2 cups,) slice thinly and then halve the slices. I did this to more evenly spread the fruit throughout the loaf.

Place sliced apples in a small saucepan. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of sugar over the apples. Cook over medium heat, stirring often to coat the slices with cinnamon sugar. Cook the fruit for 7 minutes until it just begins to soften. Remove from heat and set aside to cool about 5 minutes.

In a separate mixing bowl, thoroughly blend 2/3 cup sugar with the butter until all the sugar is incorporated into the butter. Pastry blenders work well for this. Beat 2 eggs and stir into the creamed mixture. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Gently fold the cooked apples into the batter. Stir in 4 tablespoons of milk.  

Stir the reserved dry ingredients into the batter. If it’s too dry, add another tablespoon of milk. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Try to tuck the apples poking out on top into the batter.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes.

Many people prefer to eat a slice of this delicious bread with cream cheese. It’s also good without it.

I love the combination of cinnamon and apples. I might even add a smidge more cinnamon next time. 😊

This bread takes about 20 minutes to prepare, including slicing and cooking the apples.  

Enjoy!