I think it’s been about a year since I made one of my grandma’s recipes, so let’s go back into the archives and find one to try out!
1 cup oil, 2 cups sugar, 3 eggs, beaten, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon salt. Mix together, add:
3 cups flour, 1 teaspoon soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 cup nuts (optional), 3 cups diced apples.
300 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. While still warm, sprinkle w/ sugar and wrap in tin foil.
I used canola oil for the oil in the recipe, and Cosmic Crisp apples. Mixing all the ingredients together yielded a very thick, sticky dough. I didn’t have a bread pan (must have lost it in my move), so I decided to bake it in an 8×8 pan instead. It is currently baking, and my kitchen smells warm and sweet.
I recently went on a trip to Michigan with some of my friends from Ohio. It was my first time seeing one of the great lakes, and it was absolutely beautiful. One of the activities we did was to go apple picking at a U-pick orchard. I was able to try some apples I’ve never had before (including Golden Supreme and Blondie), which helps me toward my goal of trying every apple listed in the Pomiferous database (more than 7000 varieties). I think I’ve tried around fifteen different types of apples, so I’m well on my way.
Cosmic Crisps, the apples I used in this recipe, are a cross breed of Honey Crisps and Enterprise apples, which gives them firmer flesh and a longer storage life than Honey Crisps have (Pomiferous, 2021). Cosmic Crisps are sweet and slightly tart, and crispy, as the name implies. They are probably my favorite apples you can by at most regular grocery stores here in the US.
Anyway, back to the apple bread. I always get a bit nervous with baked goods (especially breads) that they will look done on top, but will be raw or underdone in the middle. The recipe called for a baking time of one hour and thirty minutes, but I think I let my bread bake for closer to an hour and forty-five minutes. With all the moisture from the apples, the bread isn’t too dry through the middle, which I am happy about. The bottom might be a bit drier than I would like though.
The apples baked down quite a lot in the bread, and they don’t have a lot of distinct flavor. Maybe if I had used a more sour variety of apple, the flavor would have been more intense after baking. I also could have reduced the amount of sugar in the recipe since I used a sweeter type of apple- the bread has a flavor and sweetness closer to a cake than to a bread (and I didn’t even sprinkle the sugar on top). If I make this again, I also would want to increase the amount of cinnamon or add some other warm spices like cloves or all spice. One teaspoon of cinnamon for three cups of flour and three cups of apples isn’t a lot, and the flavor does not come through much in the finished product.
All these critiques aside, I probably would make this bread again. Although the apples cooked down and moistened the end result, they were not mushy. The texture of the bread was nice and soft as well, with a crisp top and slightly chewy edges. It was easy to put together and it will be nice to take to work for a breakfast or snack. It uses simple ingredients that are easy and cheap to come by, and would be satisfying to pretty much anyone.
I hope to have more to write about soon! I may be starting a supper club with some friends.
Check out Pomiferous! https://pomiferous.com/. And let me know what apples you’ve been enjoying lately.
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