Happy Apple Day!!
Zorra, of Kopftopf is hosting a one off event in honour of Apple Day. Here in New England, we are at the height of the apple season and that means one thing for me; time to make a favourite recipe of mine for Apple Bread.
A former work colleague of mine gave me this recipe almost 20 years ago and it has become a family favourite. You want to use tart and hardy apples like Macon or Cortland or Granny Smith. You will need 6 medium apples for this recipe.
Harvest Apple Bread
3 cups chopped apples
2 tsp cinnamon
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs
1 1/4 cup vegetable oil
3 cups all purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
In a large glass or metal bowl, squeeze the juice of one lemon into 2 cups of cold water. Peel and core the apples, one at a time. Chop the apple into coarse cubes and soak in the lemon water to prevent browning.
When all the apples are chopped add 1/2 cup of the sugar and the cinnamon. I also like to add a dash of nutmeg, about 1/2 tsp. Set the apples aside. In a separate bowl, mix the remainder of the sugar, the salt, the baking soda, vanilla and the eggs together. Add the oil and combine well.
Add the flour, the nuts and the apple mixture. Combine well.
Batter will be very moist. Divide between two well greased 8.5" loaf pans and bake for about 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted at 325 degrees. Remove from oven and loaf pans and let cool on racks. You can slice this when it is still warm but don't slice it for at least 10 minutes after if comes out of the oven.
Look at the chunks of apples in those slices!!
