I just adore fall! The crisp weather, cozy sweaters, rainy nights at home, hot cider and apple all the things. The minute the weather started to cool off a bit here I started craving baked goods and fresh apples and combined those cravings to make this delicious apple spice bread with a crunchy layer of brown sugar streusel on top. So delicious and a great alternative to banana bread or pumpkin bread.
This comes together quickly and is moist and a delicious bite of fall flavors.
The crunchy brown sugar topping is just heavenly. I hope you love this apple spice bread- here is the quick and easy recipe:
- ½ cup canola or vegetable oil
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup milk
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice or allspice
- 1 apple finely chopped (about 1 cup)
- Brown Sugar Topping:
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup flour
- 2 tablespoons softened butter
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- Mix oil, sugars, vanilla together in a large bowl.
- Slowly add in flour, spices and baking soda and stir well.
- Mix in milk and egg until well blended but careful not to overmix.
- Gently fold in chopped apples and pour into a buttered loaf pan.
- Preheat oven to 325 and set aside loaf pan.
- In a second bowl, cream together butter, sugar, flour and cinnamon. Mixture should be crumbly and slightly clumpy like wet sand.
- Sprinkle generously on top.
- Bake for 50 minutes and check loaf by inserting a fork or knife directly in the center to ensure it is completely baked through.
- If not, place back in oven for up to 20 more minutes, checking every 10 minutes until the knife or fork comes out clean.
Sometimes a loaf pan can be an issue. Typically there are two sizes- an 8×4 or a 9×5. I actually use a Le Creuset Loaf Pan that is 10×5 inches. I had plenty of space left when baking this bread (and I made several versions of it) but please note if you have the smaller 8×4 loaf pan you might place a baking sheet under the pan as you bake in case any of the brown sugar topping falls overboard while baking. The best size to use is 9×5 or the 10×5 if you have it.
You can also switch to a 9×9 baking dish instead and this will still turn out perfectly as a mini cake instead of a loaf or just turn it into muffins instead.
I prefer to use Gala apples but any variety you like should be fine and you can either peel them or leave the skin on. I almost always leave the skin on the apples for the extra little bit of nutrients.
And as always with any loaf recipe, if you find the top of the bread is getting a little too brown, you can always place some foil on top for the last 10 minutes to slow the browning of the top of the bread and to allow the center to continue to cook through.
If you decide to try this recipe, please come back and let me know what you think!
Here are a few other recipes you might also enjoy:
Copycat Starbucks Banana Bread
Ooh, this looks so good. I love apple anything! I have a bunch of Gravenstein apples – wonder how they’ll do in this recipe.
Yay! Let me know if you do make the bread— I’d love to hear what you think 🙂
Thanks for this wonderful recipe. It looks really nice and easy to make.