Spiced Apple Quick Bread
With half whole wheat flour and a modest amount of butter and sugar, this is a healthier spiced apple quick bread with a tasty streusel topping. 
Fall is here! Time for apples and scarecrows and a return to baking, now that temperatures are cooler. I’m so excited!
Which brings me to a question I have been pondering. Why don’t we bake more with apples? Okay, apple pie is common, but apples are so tasty and versatile, you’d think we’d put them in everything.
Bake with apples!
Well today I decided to remedy this and bake a nice Spiced Apple Quick Bread. It’s even a little bit healthy with half whole wheat flour and a modest amount of butter and sugar. Come on now, if you are putting 2 cups of sugar, and 2 cups of butter in your “bread”, you really should fess up and call it a cake (not that I don’t like my cake too).
Spiced Apple Quick Bread (Really)
This recipe is based on a muffin recipe I used to make constantly, it was so popular. Yes, the joke was that my stepfather could smell them across town, and made a beeline over whenever I baked them. I always did that one in batches of 24. 
Here I decided to use a few more spices and I swapped in my French Apple Pie streusel topping since I was out of oatmeal. Finally, I cut down the size to a single loaf, since my willpower needs all the help it can get.
Still a hit. Gotta love the bountiful fall!
- 1 egg
- 2/3 cup nonfat buttermilk
- ¼ cup butter, melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon molasses (optional)
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups diced apples (1-3 apples, depending on size)
- • 1/4 cup flour
- • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
- • 2 Tablespoons butter
- • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a standard loaf pan with non-stick spray
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg, buttermilk, butter, vanilla, molasses and brown sugar, stirring until the sugar has dissolved.
- Mix flour, baking soda and spices until well combined. Add to the liquid mix and stir until just combined. The mixture will be fluffy rather than “battery” but adjust the flour or buttermilk if it seems excessively wet or dry.
- Gently fold in chopped apples.
- Pour/spoon batter into prepared loaf pan.
- To make the topping, mix together topping ingredients in a small bowl using a fork or your fingers (I do the latter)
- Bake for about 60 minutes, or until the bread springs back when lightly pressed. Do not overbake. (see tip 2)
- Tip 1: Don’t peel the apples. Unpeeled apples are healthier, there is less waste, and you can barely tell in this recipe (I know because my princess-and-the-pea daughter can spot an apple peel a mile away)
- Tip 2: Did you know that you can use an instant read thermometer to test bread doneness? 190 F is done for a yeast bread and 200 F for a quick bread.
- Tip 3: If you become a regular user of buttermilk, it is easy to make your own. Commerical buttermilk is a cultured product, like yogurt, but even simpler to make. I add about 1/4 cup of store bought buttermilk or sour cream to a few cups of milk, then let it sit overnight (in the winter, I put it in the microwave with the light on, since our house gets cold at night). When it has thickened to the consistency of … umm… buttermilk, it is ready to go back to the refrigerator and become part of your next recipe. (The substitutions you see for buttermilk, usually milk plus lemon juice, will work for proper rising, but will not add the same flavor as buttermilk)
Easy Quick Bread Recipes
- Apple Spice Streusel Quick Bread by Art of Natural Living
- Banana Split Bread by A Kitchen Hoor’s Adventures
- Caramel Apple Bread by The Freshman Cook
- Chai Spiced Banana Bread by Cheese Curd In Paradise
- Kalamata Olive and Oregano Mini Loaves by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Louisiana Bacon Pecan Bread by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
- Spiced Pumpkin Pecan Quick Bread by Simply Inspired Meals
- Tropical Mango Banana Bread by That Recipe
- Zucchini Bread by A Day in the Life on the Farm
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A healthier quick bread that would be perfect with a cup of tea to start the day. Hopefully this comment goes through as the last several haven’t.
Thanks Karen. Yes, I pulled a couple comments from you out of my spam folder–I don’t know why the goofy spam filter is picking on you. It’s so strange because prior commenters are supposed to just go through.
The streuesel stopping sounds so delicious! I just love apple bread! I can’t wait to try this!
The topping felt a little decadent, but I had to go there 😉
I love the addition of whole wheat flour to this for a nutty texture as well as the additional fiber boost.
I am always happy when using some whole wheat works!
This looks so good – I love the chunks of apple that you can see in the bread 🙂
Thanks Tandy. They are a nice surprise to bit into.
I love how much healthier this is than a typical quick bread. They look so wonderfully tasty!
Thanks, I like to use some whole wheat flour anywhere I can!
I love everything apple and can’t wait to try this spiced apple bread!
Thanks! Isn’t the season inspiring!
I love those big chunks of apple in that bread! It sounds delicious!
Thanks! Yes, not only is it super easy to chop in the food processor, you get some really nice variety in size!
Streusel always makes everything taste better. Fantastic looking loaf.
Doesn’t it Wendy!
Love everything about this! And may I share a secret? I prefer apple spice anything over pumpkin spice! (Of COURSE I will eat pumpkin spice… I just love apples!) I just found that I do have whole wheat flour and it isn’t rancid! Yay! Hope there it’ll be apples at the market today!
Ah yes, so much food, so little time…