We waited until one of the last possible weekends to find apples for picking and of course the orchard was offering a deal! We came home with a 1/2 peck of Empires and Crispins and a half bushel of random mixed apples. The bushel made 12 quarts of apple sauce, which are sitting happy and pretty in our freezer, but eating a 1/2 peck is tough!
It’s about time to use up all of those apples. This apple bread creates only one loaf, which uses only one apple. I baked the bread yesterday and only 1/8 of it remains (it’s hunting season, so baked goods do not last!) I also used a good chunk of apples to make apple crisp for the freezer – a very good use for extra apples!
I used maple sugar as the only sweetener, but a half and half mixture of white and brown sugar could be substituted.
Cinnamon Apple Bread
1 stick butter – softened
1 cup maple sugar (or 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup a.p. flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup milk
1 large apple, peeled and diced
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla, cinnamon, and eggs. Beat until mixed. Add flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix until combined. Add milk and mix until smooth. The batter resembles more of a cake batter than bread (a little loose, which gives the bread a spongy texture!).
2. Butter and flour a bread pan. Add half the batter to the pan. Lay the apples on top of the batter. Pour remaining batter over the apples and tap pan until smooth. Bake for 50 minutes.
