Penzey’s Apple Bread – Slightly Modified

As promised, here is the Apple Bread Recipe I used along with the modifications I made to it.  I don’t know why it took me so long to get this up here since I posted this on a forum about a week ago or so.  Anyway, just to reiterate, this is a Penzey’s Spices recipe.  I simply make comments.  Also, a few points during my comments, I make it clear that I did not use Penzey’s Spices.  While this is true, I don’t want to come off as if I don’t like their spices.  I simply didn’t have the needed spices from them, and didn’t think it would make such a difference in the outcome that I needed to obtain any before baking.  Anyway, here it is:

I found this stuffed in my recipe book today & decided that I’d try it. (Husband and I bought an insane amount of apples a couple weeks ago intending to bake pie or something, & I never got around to it.) It was one I’d picked up at a Penzey’s Spice shop once. It’s actually really good & goes well with, you guessed it, tea. I made some small changes…

…which I’ve bolded.

Apple Bread
Bread:

• 4 Cups apples, peeled, cored and chopped, (we used McIntosh) (I used 1 granny smith, 1 yellow delicious, & 2 small red something or others.)

• 4 large eggs

• 1 Cup vegetable oil (we like canola) (I used Wesson. Whatever; it’s all the same, no? 😛 )

• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

• 2 tsp. baking soda

• 2 tsp. salt

• 2 tsp. PENZEYS CINNAMON (Erm… I used whatever brand is hanging out in my cabinet. I can tell you it wasn’t Penzey’s.)

• 3 Cups all-purpose flour (we used unbleached) (Again, I used whatever is in the giant clear jar. I don’t know what it is b/c it fits a whole bag & then I throw said bag immediately into the recycle.)

• 2 Cups granulated white sugar

Topping:

• 3/4 Cup all-purpose flour

• 1/4 Cup granulated white sugar

• 2 tsp. PENZEYS CINNAMON (To repeat, I used whatever brand is hanging out in my cabinet. I can tell you it wasn’t Penzey’s.)

• 1/2 Cup butter (1 stick), room temperature

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly grease two standard bread loaf pans and set aside. Peel, core and slice the apples. Cut into good-sized chunks, about 1 inch in size. (I decided this was nonsense & cut them into thinner slices. I let my husband play with his apple-corer-peeler-cuts-in-a-spiral thingy. The spiral comes off about a quarter inch thick, and then I just turned the apple back up and cut the entire spiraled apple into 6 wedges.) In a large bowl, beat the eggs with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add the oil and beat until combined. Add the vanilla extract, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Beat until thoroughly mixed. Next, add the flour and sugar and mix on low just to blend. Turn the mixer to high and beat until mixture is smooth. The batter will be very thick, almost like cookie dough. Fold in the chopped apples, mixing by hand with a spoon so the apples do not get broken up. (I used my stand mixer so for this whole process so for this step, I just switched the paddle for the dough arm attachment. No apple bits were “broken up” or otherwise harmed due to this modification.) Divide the mixture between the two pans. Since the batter is so thick, it is easiest to spoon the batter into the pans. To prepare the topping, combine flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut the butter into the mixture with a fork until all ingredients are moist and crumbly. If you don’t mind a little mess, it is faster to use your hands. Sprinkle equal amounts of topping on each loaf. Bake for about 1 hour on the center rack of the oven. The loaf should feel fairly firm when touched in the middle; if not, bake an extra 5 minutes. (After an hour and 5 minutes, neither loaf felt “firm” in the middle. I removed them anyway. Good thing, too, because they were getting a little too brown on the edges/bottom. They were fully cooked inside.) Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing from the pans. It is easier to slice the bread if you can wait until it is at least mostly cool.

Prep. time: 20 minutes
Baking time: 60-65 minutes
Yield: 2 loaves, 24 slices (No way does this make 24 slices. I got 16: 8 from each loaf. If you cut them thin enough to get 12 from each, you’ll have apple pile-of-crumbly-stuff, not apple bread-slices.)

Nutritional Information:
Servings 2; Serving Size 1 slice (80g); Calories 270; Calories from fat 120; Total fat 14g; Cholesterol 45mg; Sodium 330mg; Carbohydrate 36g; Dietary Fiber 1g; Sugars 20g; Protein 3g.

ETA:

Good luck, and I hope you enjoy!

❤ K

Advertisement

Mid-week Blues

Dear Sis,

We’ve been absent so long from our letters!  But now I feel I’ve settled in enough in our new place to start writing to you again.  We’ve moved, and our new place is nice.  It’s certainly roomy, but still cozy.  It’s especially cozy with all the yet-to-be-unpacked boxes littering the place and clogging up the closets, haha.  Oh well.  It’ll get there… or it won’t, and we’ll just move again.  Either way.

I’ve been feeling kind of slumpy lately so I took your advice and brewed some tea, had a snack (more like a late lunch), and relaxed for a few minutes with some real sunshine.  It really did the trick!  I felt so good, I finished up some random house errands I’d been putting off.  And now I feel so much better, I felt like I could write you a letter, and maybe some other people could get letters of the paper and pencil variety!  We’ll see.  I can’t be neglecting my yarn, which you also instructed me to use!

I have a new knitting group here that is really pretty fun.  I don’t go every week, but I definitely enjoy when I do go.  It’s really the only time besides church that I leave the house.  Not that I’m complaining.  I love staying at home, being cozy, and doing my housechores.  But being forced out every once in a while, I know, is good for me.  Speaking of housechores, I finished with them all early the other day so I baked Apple Bread.

I got the recipe off a card I found once when we went to Penzey’s Spices.  I changed a few things, but it turned out really good.  I’ll post my modifications later.  🙂  I’ll also write more later about my yarny endeavors.  They have been many (although not as many as I’d like…), and one at least needs to have a pattern posted up here.

Much Love,

Kia