The headnote to the recipe for "Brown Sugar Glazed Apple Bread" in Sally's Baking Addiction confidently declares, "If you only make one apple bread in your lifetime, this is the recipe you need." However, what compelled me to try the recipe wasn't this bold declaration, but the cookbook photo. It shows slabs of bread studded with chunks of apple and nuts, covered in a thick layer of what looks like golden caramel and pecans.
This recipe calls for plain yogurt, but I didn't have any and used sour cream instead. To make the batter, you cream softened butter with yogurt (or sour cream), dark brown sugar, and sugar; add eggs and vanilla; mix in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt); and fold in chopped apple (I used one Golden Delicious apple, with a trimmed weight of 220 grams) and pecans. You transfer the batter to a greased loaf pan and bake.
I let the cake cool completely in the pan and the poured on a warm glaze made by bringing dark brown sugar, butter, and heavy cream to a boil; whisking in powdered sugar; and stirring in pecans. I also added a healthy dash of salt to the glaze. My glaze did not look like like the glaze in the cookbook photo. The latter was light golden brown in color and appeared to be firmly set. Mine was the color of dark brown sugar and stayed slightly damp to the touch. The glaze had a slightly grainy texture that reminded me a lot of a praline candy. While it was quite sweet, it was absolutely delicious and made the bread extra decadent.
The bread itself was moist and full of flavor. There was a generous amount of apple chunks and nuts that were evenly distributed throughout and you could clearly taste the apple. I'm not going to swear off all other apple bread recipes, but Sally is right -- this one is a keeper. And Sally suggests using the brown sugar glaze on muffins or other breads, which I think is a marvelous idea!
Recipe: "Brown Sugar Glazed Apple Bread" from Sally's Baking Addiction by Sally McKenney.
This recipe calls for plain yogurt, but I didn't have any and used sour cream instead. To make the batter, you cream softened butter with yogurt (or sour cream), dark brown sugar, and sugar; add eggs and vanilla; mix in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt); and fold in chopped apple (I used one Golden Delicious apple, with a trimmed weight of 220 grams) and pecans. You transfer the batter to a greased loaf pan and bake.
The bread itself was moist and full of flavor. There was a generous amount of apple chunks and nuts that were evenly distributed throughout and you could clearly taste the apple. I'm not going to swear off all other apple bread recipes, but Sally is right -- this one is a keeper. And Sally suggests using the brown sugar glaze on muffins or other breads, which I think is a marvelous idea!
Recipe: "Brown Sugar Glazed Apple Bread" from Sally's Baking Addiction by Sally McKenney.
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