Happy Glaze: Apple Cider Bread with Drizzled Caramel
Pumpkin gets all the glory in the fall, but I'm a fan of apples. They're inexpensive, nutritious and - most importantly - ridiculously delicious. I love the flavor and texture they add to baked goods. I balk a little, though, when recipes call for apple cider, because it tends to be so expensive. This recipe avoids that neatly - you press the juice out of the shredded apples to keep your bread from getting soggy (this was a great job for my 3-year-old daughter) and then use the pressed liquid in the caramel glaze. No waste and no additional cost. Those are two of my favorite things. P.S. I like to use a variety of apples to give the bread a little more complex flavor, but you certainly don't need to.
Ingredients
BREAD:
2 medium-sized apples, peeled and cored
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon nutmeg
CARAMEL GLAZE:
1/4 cup dulce de leche or caramel sauce
2 Tablespoons leftover apple liquid
2/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted
Related: 11 drinks that scream "fall" (make your own pumpkin-spice latté!)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray four mini bread pans with baking spray and set aside.
2. With a food processor fitted with the shredding attachment, grate the apples (or grate by hand). Place a colander or mesh sieve over a bowl and dump the shredded apples into the colander or sieve. Press down hard to squeeze out as much of the juice as possible. Set aside the bowl with the juice for the glaze.
3. Whisk the brown sugar, buttermilk, oil, eggs, and apples together until well-combined. Mix in the dry ingredients, stirring just until combined.
4. Distribute evenly between the four prepared pans adn bake until a toothpick comes out dry, 30-35 minutes. Let sit in pans for 15 minutes, then carefully remove from pans and let cool completely.
5. Whisk together the caramel sauce (if it's very thick, you may want to microwave it for a few seconds to soften it up), the apple liquid, and the powdered sugar until smooth. Drizzle over the bread.
- By Janssen Bradshaw
For 21 autumn apple recipes that go way beyond pie, visit Spoonful!
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