Apple almond bread
Use up a few of those abundant fall apples in this quick, easy loaf that you can make in one bowl!
If you’ve gone apple picking or simply overbought at the grocery store, this is a great way to use up some of that abundance. This lightly sweet bread is fast, easy, and nutritious: It comes together quickly in one bowl* and uses mostly maple syrup, greek yogurt, and whole wheat flour. It makes a great dessert, snack, or breakfast.
*See notes at the bottom of the recipe.
Apple almond bread
Time: about 1 hour, mostly hands off
Yield: 8-10 slices
For the topping:
1 ½ Tbsp butter, melted
¼ cup sliced almonds (not toasted)
3 tbsp whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp brown sugar
pinch of salt
For the bread:
2.5 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/4 cup whole milk yogurt (non-Greek)
¾ cup maple syrup
2 eggs
½ tsp almond extract
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup almond flour
2 heaping Tbsp flax seed meal
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 Tbsp cinnamon
3 cups diced apples (about 2 large apples, not peeled)
Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9x5 or 10x5 loaf pan with olive oil and set aside.
Make the topping: In small bowl, melt the butter. Add the almonds, 3 Tbsp of whole wheat flour, sugar, and salt and mix well. Set aside.
In a large bowl, melt the rest of the butter and let cool slightly. (Or, melt the butter halfway and stir to melt the rest. This usually results in warm, not hot, butter.)
Add the rest of the wet ingredients and whisk to incorporate .
Add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined and no streaks remain. Set aside.
Chop the apples and add to the batter. Stir a few times to combine, but don’t over mix.
Bake for 40-50 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Check the bread after about 30 minutes or if you start to smell the almond too strongly. Cover with foil if the topping browns too quickly and continue to bake until the tester comes out clean.
Notes:
No need to toast the almonds in the topping because they'll toast while the bread cooks.
If you want the apples to disappear into the bread, chop them into tiny pieces. If you like to see and taste the apples more emphatically, leave them in 1/2-inch chunks. Larger chunks of apple make the bread a bit more crumbly, so choose whichever method better suits your tastes.
If you like a wetter crumb, feel free to throw in another 1/4 cup of yogurt, but remember that you probably shave off a day from the life of your loaf. (Without the extra yogurt, you get about 4-5 days loosely wrapped at room temperature from this bad boy- not that you'll need it).