I think fresh apples make this bread infinitely better. Recently my daughter and I made this and baked them into mini-loaves for her teachers. We also made a regular sized loaf for her to slice off pieces for her school snack. It really is the ideal Fall snack, a moist bread full of Fall flavors that everybody loves!
Ingredients:
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 2 apples, peeled, cored and grated on a box grater
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2/3 cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted
Ingredients for the Sugar Cinnamon Topping:
- 1 pinch Kosher salt
- 2/3 cup walnuts, finely chopped
- 1/3 freshly packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preparation:
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter and flour a 12×4 inch loaf pan, or two smaller loaf pans.
2. In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then, add the eggs and beat them well. The mixture will still look slightly curdled, but that’s fine.
3. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cardamom, cinnamon and salt. With the mixer on low add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients bit by bit until they are totally incorporated. Then, stir in the apples, walnuts and vanilla until just combined. Prepare the topping by mixing the walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon in one bowl.
4. Pour prepared batter into loaf pan(s) and sprinkle with topping mixture. Bake for 45 minutes, or until cake tester inserted comes out clean.
Recipe adapted from Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros
