Apple Bread with Spiced Brown Butter and Walnuts

This easy-to-make apple bread recipe has spiced brown butter and walnuts in it with a cinnamon crumb topping that screams Autumn!

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“You should really show that to your readers…” said my friend Annelies while we were hanging out in the lobby of a hotel in Seattle. It was day two of a major food blogging conference and instead of going to a session, both of us opted to just hang out and chat. Annelies was referring to a photo I had taken of yellow legal pad where I keep my recipe developing notes. I had recipes listed for my caramel apple popcorn, my easy caramel apple, my red wine pear tart and my latest Apple Bread with Spiced Brown Butter and Walnuts.

I had quickly taken it with my iPhone because I wanted to write a blog post. I needed to transcribe the recipe to my computer but I didn’t have time before my flight and didn’t want to lug my legal pad with me. I questioned whether anyone would have interest in seeing it, but she assured me that they would. I filed that conversation in the back of my head and haven’t really revisited it until I started developing the apple cinnamon bread.

In truth, I’m always fascinated by “behind the scenes” exposés where people explain all the work that goes into the final product. I’m probably not alone in that so it doesn’t surprise me that Annelies would suggest I post about. But does anyone have any interest in learning about how I do things? I’m not sure, mostly because how I do things around here is pretty boring.

Behind the scenes of recipe developing

I start with an idea (Apple Bread!), write down the recipe, start baking, often times adapting or changing the recipe as I bake on the fly. The batter is looking too thin, so I add more flour, the batter is too thick, so I add more buttermilk. Maybe I should use more whole wheat instead of all-purpose. Looks like I don’t have any pecans in the cabinet but I do have the package of walnuts instead. Make notes, cross off things off, add things, adjust amounts. Bake. Taste. Repeat. When satisfied, photograph, photograph and photograph some more. Hmmm. Is that interesting? I don’t know. You tell me.

Extra produce means extra recipe developing!

I’m a pretty frugal baker and blogger by nature. It may not seem that way as I have WAY more ridiculous ingredients in my cabinets than the average bear. Whole grain flours, alternative sweeteners, oddball finishing salts and weird extracts, oils and vinegars. My cabinet would put Whole Foods to shame. But at the end of the day, the stuff that I make is usually a last ditch attempt at using up something in the fridge or the counter before it goes bad.

As a food photographer, I buy produce for a shoot as props, but I always have leftovers from the shoot. I need to use them up before they go bad. That’s what drives me to bake the things that I do more than anything else. People ask me where I get my inspiration, but the truth is, it’s usually desperation. I can’t throw away perfectly good food/ingredients. How can I make something out of it?

Today it was the abundance of apples I had as leftover from a photoshoot with a client. And the walnuts came in to play because the pecans I thought I had in the pantry amounted to a scant 1/3 cup but that container of walnuts sitting next to it was full. Besides I had that bottle of La Tourangelle Roasted Walnut Oil that they had given to me as a sample. I’ve been meaning to use it (see what I mean about ridiculous ingredients?). What better use of all those ingredients than to whip up a quick batter bread with fall spices that would make the apartment smell like October?

If San Francisco had deciduous trees, I’d be out there jumping in the leaves and taking photos of the changing colors of the trees. But since it doesn’t, I’ll content myself with another slice of this apple walnut bread. It’s the closest I’ll get.

How to make apple bread

Apple bread is an easy quick bread that requires you making an easy batter, folding in the chopped apples, then baking it.

My recipe has an extra step of first processing walnuts into a fine crumb, then toasting it to give them extra flavor. Butter is then cooked on the stove to give it an extra boost of flavor. Mix those into the batter and then bake with a crumb topping!

How long does apple bread last?

Store apple bread in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for 7 days.

Can you freeze apple bread?

Yes, you can also freeze homemade apple bread! Just let it cool to room temperature, then slice it. This will make it easier to serve. Wrap the apple bread tightly in plastic wrap and place in a resealable Ziploc freezer bag. The apple cinnamon bread should last last up to 3 months in the freezer. Just thaw at room temperature for an hour before serving..

If you like this homemade apple bread recipe, try these other quick bread recipes:

• Pumpkin Spice Latte Bread
• Kahlua Chocolate Banana Bread
• Marbled Pumpkin Chocolate Bread
• Lemon Rosemary Walnut Bread

Special thanks for La Tourangelle for giving me a sample of their Roasted Walnut Oil to try out. As always, even though they offered me the sample for free, I was not monetarily compensated for this post and all opinions above are my own.

Updated October 22, 2019: I have updated this recipe formatting and cleaned up a bit of this blog post, but the recipe is the same from the original October 7, 2013 publication.

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APPLE BREAD WITH SPICED BROWN BUTTER AND WALNUTS

When my partner AJ entered the house while this was baking, his eye lit up. The smell is pretty intoxicating, one part autumnal spices, one part fresh baked baked good, and one part sugary sweet nuttiness. Don't be scared by the long list of ingredients. You probably have most of them in the pantry already! And this quick batter bread is pretty easy to throw together, making it a perfect afternoon snack, an easy breakfast or just about anytime!

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword apple, quick bread

Prep Time 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time 1 hour hour

Servings 8

Calories 534kcal

Author Irvin

Equipment

• 9 x 5 inch bread loaf pan
• parchment paper (optional)
• Food processor

Ingredients

Bread batter

• 3/4 cup walnuts 85 g
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick or 115 g
• 2 tablespoons walnut oil or olive oil
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar 220g
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract optional
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole wheat flour 150 g
• 1 cup all purpose flour 140 g
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 medium Granny Smith apples peeled, cored and chopped into 1/2-inch chunks (about 2 cups)

Streusel topping

• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts 55 g
• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar 55 g
• 1/4 cup all purpose flour 35 g
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 tablespoon melted unsalted butter

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350˚Spray the bread loaf pan with cooking oil and then place a piece of parchment paper inside the pan and up the sides, overhanging the edges by an inch or two.
• Make the bread batter by placing the walnuts in a food processor and processing until you have a fine crumbs of walnuts (it’ll look like coarse sand). Pour the crumbs into a medium pan and toast the walnut crumbs over medium heat until they start to smell fragrant and darken a bit, about two to three minutes. Pour into a medium size bowl to cool down.
• Place the butter in the same pan you cooked the walnut crumbs and turn the heat back to medium. Cook the butter until it melt and the butter fat starts to brown. The butter might foam a bit, but once you notice brown specks at the bottom of the pan, turn the heat off, and let the residual heat from the pan continue to cook the butterfat until it has turned dark golden brown.
• Pour the brown butter into the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, being sure to scrap all the brown bits into the bowl as well. Turn the mixer on and beat for about 30 seconds to cool the butter down. Add the walnut oil (or olive oiand dark brown sugar. Beat for another 30 seconds to incorporate.
• Add the vanilla extract, almond extract (if using), baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Beat to incorporate and add the eggs, one at a time, beating between additions to incorporate. Add the toasted walnut crumbs to the batter and beat to incorporate.
• Add both flours to the batter and beat to incorporate. Add the buttermilk and beat to incorporate. Add the apple bits to the batter and fold them with a large spatula by hand. Scrape the batter into the prepared bread loaf pan.
• Make the streusel topping by placing the chopped walnuts, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and sea salt in the same bowl the toasted walnut crumbs used to be in. Drizzle the melted butter over the ingredients and toss together with a fork. The ingredients should clump together. Sprinkle over the bread batter evenly and bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the bread comes out clean.
• Let the bread cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes before removing the bread out of the pan by grabbing the sides of the parchment paper that are hanging over the edges and lifting straight up. Move to a wire rack and let cool completely before slicing and serving.

Notes

You can substitute all-purpose flour for the whole wheat flour if you’d like. Just increase the amount of all-purpose flour to 2 cups (280 g).

Nutrition

Calories: 534kcal