By Eileen Goltz

For some, the advent of the High Holidays is a mad scramble to find the most unusual, delicious, and, dare I say it — better-than-anyone-else’s apple recipes. I’ve seen apples added to salads, soups, main courses, and, of course, desserts. There are apple challahs, baked apples, and even taffy apples included in menus.

I’ve decided that this year, in addition to the sweet/tart Granny Smiths that I slice to accompany the three different honeys I just bought, I’m going to make apple breads. Not muffins, but rather those dense loaves that are moist, sweet, and perfect to accompany your morning coffee just before you head to shul or when you just need a little nibble before you head off to bed.

Two of the following recipes are for “quick breads,” which basically means using a baking powder or soda instead of yeast. The last recipe is for a decadent yeast bread that I promise you will become a year-round family favorite.

Apple Bite Bread

Serves 8

Ingredients:

  • ⅓ cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ⅔ cup sugar
  • ½ cup salted butter, softened (or use unsalted butter plus ¼ teaspoon salt)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla
  • 1½ cups flour
  • 1¾ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1 to 2 apples, peeled and diced (I used Granny Smith or Honeycrisp)
  • ½ cup dried cherries or raisins, divided

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9- x 5-inch loaf pan.
  2. In a bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the white sugar and butter and mix until creamy and combined. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
  3. In another bowl, combine the flour and baking powder and then add it to the butter mixture. Mix to just combine then add the milk and mix to combine.
  4. Pour half the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle half of the apples, half the brown sugar-cinnamon mixture, and ¼ cup cherries or raisins over the batter. Gently push the mixture into the batter. Spoon the remaining batter over apple cherry mixture. Sprinkle the remaining apples and cherries on top and add more brown sugar-cinnamon mixture.
  5. Lightly pat/push apples into batter and then, with a knife, swirl brown sugar and apple mixtures gently through the batter (do not overdo, just 2 or 3 swirls to make the layers undulate). Bake at 350°F for 30 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out cleanly from the center.

Maple Apple Pie Bread

Serves 8

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups flour
  • ½ cup oatmeal
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ¼ cup sugar
  • 3 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup vanilla yogurt or sour cream
  • ⅔ cup milk or half-and-half
  • ⅓ cup oil
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon maple extract
  • 2 large apples, cut into small chunks

Crumble Topping

  • ½ cup flour
  • ¼ cup brown sugar
  • 1 stick soft butter
  • ¼ cup oatmeal
  • ¼ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Maple Glaze

  • 1 heaping cup powdered sugar, sifted
  • 3 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 1 teaspoon maple extract
  • Optional ½ to 1 tablespoon hot water

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375°F and heavily grease a 9- x 5-inch loaf pan.
  2. In a bowl, mix together the flour, oats, brown and white sugars, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt. Set it aside.
  3. In a large bowl, combine the eggs, yogurt or sour cream, milk, oil, and the vanilla and maple extracts. Gently mix in the flour mixture and then fold in the apple chunks.

Crumble Topping

  1. In a bowl, combine all the crumb topping ingredients and mix to combine.
  2. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the topping over the top. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes, remove from pan, and cool completely on a cooling rack.

Maple Glaze

  1. In a small bowl, combine the powdered sugar, maple syrup, maple extract, and hot water. If the glaze is too thick, add a half teaspoon of water at a time to reach desired consistency.
  2. Drizzle the glaze over the top of the loaf and let set for 15 to 25 minutes before slicing.

Whiskey Glazed Apple Bread

Serves 8

  • ¾ cup warm milk
  • 3 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1½ sticks (¾ cup) butter, melted
  • 3½ to 4 cups flour

Filling

  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
  • ½ cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 2 Granny Smith or Honeycrisp apples, diced

Glaze

  • 3 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons whiskey or bourbon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

  1. In a bowl of an electric mixer, combine the milk, yeast, and sugar. Mix to combine. Add the salt, eggs, and melted butter and mix to combine. Gradually mix in the flour until the dough comes together. It will be sticky.
  2. Remove the dough and place on a lightly floured surface. Kneed the dough for about 3–5 minutes until you can form it into a smooth ball. Grease a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let sit (35–45 minutes, but no more than an hour) just until the dough doubles in size.
  3. While the dough is rising in a bowl, combine the brown sugar and cinnamon for the filling and mix to combine, set aside. Please parchment sheet on a cookie sheet and set aside. Grease 2 loaf pans. Set aside.
  4. Lightly flour a surface. Punch down the dough and roll it into a rectangle, using a little more flour to make sure that it doesn’t stick. The rectangle should be approximately 9 x 24 inches.
  5. Brush half the butter over the top of the dough. Sprinkle half the cinnamon sugar over the butter. Spoon the chopped apples over the cinnamon sugar, then sprinkle with the remaining cinnamon sugar on top of the apples and brush the remaining butter over the top.
  6. Roll the dough up into a log, starting with the long side closest to you, making sure it’s fairly tight as you roll it. When you reach the end of the roll, pinch it closed on the seam and the ends.
  7. Place the log seam side down on the baking sheet lined with parchment paper. With a sharp knife, cut diagonal slices. Arrange the cut sections so that they overlap each other.
  8. Use your hands to gently push the dough together, to shape approx. the size of the loaf pan. The dough will be messy but that’s a good thing. Using the parchment paper to hold the loaf together, lift the dough up and into the bread pan (keep it on the parchment paper in the pan. If the pan you are using is smaller than 9 x 5 inches, divide the dough among 2 bread pans. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
  9. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until lightly browned on top but watch carefully, you do not want to over bake this bread.
  10. Remove the pan from oven and let cool, in the pan for 10 minutes then remove from pan.
  11. For the glaze, in a bowl combine the maple syrup, powdered sugar, and whiskey/bourbon and vanilla. If the glaze is too thick, add a few drops of water.
  12. Drizzle the glaze over the warm bread. This bread is most delicious served warm but equally delicious at room temp the next day — if there’s any left.

© Eileen Goltz

Eileen Goltz is a freelance kosher foods writer. She graduated from Indiana University and the Cordon Bleu Cooking School in Paris. She lectures on various food-related topics across the U.S. and Canada and writes columns for the CJN in Chicago, kosherscoop.com, and the OU Shabbat Shalom website, OU.org. She also wrote the Perfectly Pareve Cookbook (Feldheim). 

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