Apple Bread

We've had to stop our food challenge blog, since Becky and David are too busy to keep up with it now that the school year has started.  But I'd like to continue it since it forces me to be more creative about finding new recipes and makes me more interested in cooking dinner.  So I decided that I would continue it on my own by giving myself little challenges occasionally.  


Maybe because the weather started getting cooler, or because I had to bring a dish to a brunch, or maybe because I have apples coming out of my ears from all the apples that we picked, but I decided to start my challenge with quick breads, specifically apple bread.  The following recipe is a modification of a highly rated  Food.com recipe.  The bread was very good; I liked the apple chunks, but it seemed to be missing something.

I baked a few small loaves in clean tomato cans to give to Amelia's preschool teachers as a little teacher appreciation present.  Amelia painted red apples on brown paper bags, and I drew stems and leaves to decorate the cans.  We put together a cute little basket with some fresh-picked apples, a few toffee apples that I made and decorated with M&Ms, and a loaf of this bread.

Apple Bread

makes two 8 x 4" loaf pans

2 cups sugar (next time try less)
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup natural applesauce
3 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
2 cups diced peeled apples (about 1 1/2 large apples)

Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray two 8 x 4" loaf pans with PAM baking spray.

Combine first 5 ingredients, stirring until well-mixed.  Add dry ingredients, mixing just until combined.  Stir in apples.  Pour into prepared loaf pans.

Bake at 350F for 40 minutes.