Apple Nut Bread

Shortly after Thanksgiving I was in still in the holiday food mood and made a couple of loaves of Cranberry Nut Bread which turned out great. I started thinking Apple Nut Bread would be good to, so and went out in search of an Apple Nut Bread recipe. I was dismayed by what I found! When I was thinking Apple Nut Bread, I envisioned apple pie with big chunks of apple, but all the recipes I found had you murdering that poor apples. Some had you mashing the apples and some had you grating the apples, but none of them offered you that large tart bite fruit that you get with an apple pie (and cranberry nut bread if done right).

The only way to solve this problem was invent my own! So here it is, my original contribution to Internet cuisine.

Note: the proportions here are for one 9x5 loaf, but you may want to double it because you only really need 1-1/2 apples for one loaf (or just eat half an apple while cooking).

For the Bread:

• 2 Granny Smith apples
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 cup of chopped walnuts
• 2 TBLS of butter, melted
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 3/4 cup of apple juice

Peel, core, and slice the apples into 8 wedges, each wedge cut in half across the middle. You only need 1-1/2 apples, so you can eat half of one. Place the apples in a large bowl, sprinkle with 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, squeeze 1/2 of a lemon all over it, and then toss to coat all of the apple chunks.

Place all the dry ingredients into a large bowl and vigorously whisk with a wire whisk to evenly distribute all of the ingredients. What you are doing here is essentially the same as sifting together the dry ingredients, but you really do not need a sifter, just make sure everything is evenly distributed.

Using a heavy wooden spoon, mix in the apple juice and melted butter until evenly distributed, then add your egg and continue to mix.  (Tip - whisk the dry ingredients first so you can use the same whisk for the egg).

Once the wet and dry ingredients of fully mixed, fold in the apples and nuts. This will be a very think batter. Spoon it into a greased 9x5 loaf pan and bake at 350 for about 45-50 minutes (until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean). After baking let it cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then remove it from the pan an allow it to fully (well .. mostly) cool before glazing.

For the Glaze:

• 2 TBLS of butter
• 2 cups of sifted confectioners sugar (you can whisk this also, but not to vigorously unless you want to breath it :)
• 1/4 tsp of cinnamon
• 3-4 TBLS of apple juice

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Remove from the heat stir in the confectioners sugar and cinnamon - this will form a thick glob. Spoon in two TBLS of apple juice and continue mixing, adding additional spoons of apple juice to get it to a consistency that will poor and cover the bread without all of it running off. (a little thicker than ketchup).

I would have no problem trowing down against Bobby Flay with this one!