Homemade Apple Bread

How is everybody doing during quarantine?

To be honest, I’m struggling a little. I can’t remember the last time I worked out, I’m too bored to read and I have completely my lost my sense of time. What day is it even?

Every week, Bri and I have been trying to make something different in the kitchen… because what else are we going to do? This week, I decided that I’d try to make some Apple Bread!

I have seen a few recipes around and had a couple apples to spare, so I thought I’d give it a try. Here’s how I made mine…

Ingredients:

•  4 large apples, peeled –– I used Gala, but I think any firm, tart apple will work great!
•  2 cup Splenda –– of course, you can use sugar. since Brian is diabetic, we used Splenda instead
•  ½ cup olive oil –– can also use vegetable oil
•  2 large eggs
•  2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
•  3 cup wheat flour –– regular flour works too, we just use wheat 🙂
•  1 tablespoon baking powder
•  ½ teaspoon baking soda
•  1 teaspoon salt
•  1½ tablespoon cinnamon
•  ½ teaspoon nutmeg
• 1-2 cup chopped pecans

Optional:

•  1 cup raisins, Craisins, or chopped dates
• We added pecans, but it’s optional. You could also use walnuts!

It was really easy to pull altogether.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease two 8” x 4” loaf pans. Set aside.
2. Using the large holes of a cheese grater, shred the apples (discard the cores). Do this over the bowl in order to catch any juice that comes out!
3. In a large bowl, mix shredded apples and sugar (or in our case, Splenda) together. Let sit for 15 minutes until sugar (Splenda) dissolves. There will be a lot of liquid.
4. Add oil, eggs, vanilla extract, pecans (and/or walnuts, raisins, etc.) and stir.
5. In a medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together. Add dry ingredients into the apple mixture and stir, just until mixed. Pour into loaf pans.
6. Bake 45-55 minutes, or until golden and center tests done with a toothpick. Both of mine took around 45 minutes, so be sure to start checking around 40 mins.
7. Remove pans from oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Then take breads out of pan to cool completely.
8. Try not to eat all of it at once… 🙂

Additional Notes:

This recipe made two loaves, but I only baked one at a time just in case I had to make any corrections. My first loaf, although it was really good, turned out a little too dense. I chose to add about 2 cups of water to the second mixture to get a pourable consistency. Because of this, the second loaf rose better and turned out fluffier than the first. Just keep an eye on your mixture once you’ve added all of the flour –– it should be pourable, not chunky.

Brian and I loved this recipe so much, we’ll absolutely make it again. For someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience baking bread… it’s darn good! 🙂

Let me know if you try this in the comments below!