A moist and irresistible apple cinnamon bread with a delicious cinnamon swirl and topped with a buttery cinnamon streusel. Top with apple cider glaze for the best morning treat.
Why you'll love it
When it comes to autumn baking, apples are my go-to. I love all things apple. Don't get me wrong, pumpkin is amazing too, but apples will always have my heart. I love this apple bread because it is so packed full of my favorite things about fall in one slice. This is an easy quick bread recipe you can make at any time because it uses basic ingredients and requires only a few steps. It is full of delicious tart and sweet apples and warm spices making it perfect for sharing or gifting.
Key Ingredients
When you look at all the ingredients needed to make this quick loaf, you may think it's a ton. Really though, a lot of it repeats in the different sections, so it's not as intimidating as you may think. In fact, its a fairly simple loaf, and you can make some parts of it ahead of time!
- Oil - I like to use oil instead of butter in my apple bread for a few reasons. It keeps the bread nice and moist, allows the bread to rise better, and its neutral flavor doesn't compete with the spices or apple. Make sure to use a neutral oil like vegetable or canola. We do use unsalted butter in the streusel to give the bread a nice buttery richness.
- Sugar - We use granulated sugar and brown sugar in this recipe. There is brown sugar in the streusel and the swirl for depth of flavor. I like to use granulated in the loaf itself to keep it from getting too dark in color.
- Spices - We use some of my favorite apple spices, plus a nice amount of cinnamon in the swirl and the streusel.
- Apples - We can't have apple bread without apples! You can finely dice or shred your apples. I like to shred my apples so I can get apple in every bite, but if you like more prominent apple pieces of apple in your bread, cut them larger! The best kind of apples are firm and tart like Granny Smith apples.
- Apple butter - I like to use apple butter to amplify the apple flavor. I feel it is stronger in flavor compared to applesauce.
- Eggs - Large eggs are used to help add structure and moisture to the loaf so we can get a nice texture.
How to make
It's very easy to make this apple cinnamon bread recipe even with all its delicious components, let's go over how I like to make this quick bread!
- Start the streusel. Mix the dry ingredients together, then cut in the butter. It should look like large crumbs, and it should stick together when you press the mixture together. Store in the refrigerator until needed.
- Mix together the swirl. Toss the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Chop or shred your apples. Optionally peel them first. Keep in a separate bowl. Toss in lemon juice and flour and set aside.
- Mix. Add the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Set aside. Mix together the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix until only a few small lumps remain, fold in the apples.
- Assemble. Add half the batter to a prepared loaf pan, sprinkle the with the cinnamon sugar. Top with remaining batter then smooth with a rubber spatula. Add the streusel to the top of the loaf.
- Bake in a preheated oven. The bread should rise and spring back when pressed. A toothpick inserted in the center of the bread should come out clean or with a few moist crumbs clinging to it.
- Cool. Remove from the oven and let the bread cool for about 15 minutes before removing from the pan and transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Serve. If desired, make the apple cider glaze (which should be prepared as the loaf bakes) to top. Otherwise serve as-is with your favorite autumn beverage like a mug of homemade hot chocolate!
Variations
If you want to switch things up, or are looking for a few substitutions, I have a few you may like!
- You can add oats to the streusel for added texture and flavor!
- If you don't have apple butter, you can use applesauce instead (just know that apple sauce has less concentrated apple flavor).
- To lighten the bread to make it better for you, try substituting some of the oil with more apple butter or all of the oil with refined coconut oil or avocado oil.
- Substitute half the all-purpose with whole wheat flour, or substitute all the all-purpose flour with white whole wheat flour.
- Add chopped walnuts for added flavor and texture!
Storage
You can store your loaf of apple cinnamon bread at room temperature for about 5 days. I recommend storing it in an airtight container to maintain freshness.
If you want to freeze your bread, it is possible as long as it is wrapped well in aluminum foil or plastic wrap, then stored in an airtight container. Wait until the bread is completely cooled to room temperature before wrapping and freezing for the best results. When frozen, the bread should last up to a month.
To thaw, leave at room temperature unwrapped for several hours. I like to gently reheat it to make it like it was freshly baked again!
F.A.Q.s
You want to use an apple that is not too sweet to counterbalance the other ingredients. It should also be able to maintain its structure after baking. I recommend tart and firm apples such as Granny Smith and Pink Lady. You can also use Golden Delicious and Honey Crisp
Yes! You can use this recipe to make delicious muffins! Simply divide the batter among a lined muffin tin, then bake for 15 - 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean!
Tools
You don't need any fancy equipment for this bread, but here are my favorite tools that I used to make this bread!
- A nice loaf pan is essential. I like this one because I love how easy it is to release the loaves, it bakes evenly, and the sharp edges look nice in a loaf, I think!
- Cute spatulas help make baking more fun. I absolutely adore these sprinkle spatulas!
- I love this whisk, I don't know why I love it so much, but it is the whisk I've been using for ages.
Notes & Tips
- The most important way to ensure you get the best results is to make sure you are correctly measuring your ingredients, particularly the flour. You should fluff up the flour and then spoon it into your measuring cup then sweep of the excess. If you want to make sure you get consistent results, you can convert the recipe to metric and use a kitchen scale.
- Don't stress out over getting the apples sliced to the exact same size. It isn't as important in this recipe. In fact, using a large grater helps you get a lot of great apple flavor throughout.
- If you decide to use a glaze, wait until the bread is fully cooled before topping it.
- If you don't glaze the loaf, it toasts wonderfully. I like to add spread cinnamon honey butter to my toasted slices!
- While this bread is great for breakfast and a snack, you can also turn it into a dessert by serving it alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
- Try to not get the cinnamon sugar swirl at the very edges of the pan. I find having a barrier or batter along the edges helps with slicing when the cake is cool.
Related recipes
If you are an apple fan, you absolutely must try my apple cinnamon rolls. You will also love trying out my homemade applesauce and homemade apple cider. My apple crumble is one of the most popular autumn recipes on the site along with the apple cider sangria, apple pie moonshine, and caramel apple cupcakes. You can find all my best apple recipes here, and don't forget to check out my autumn baking ebook!
Recipe Card
Apple Cinnamon Bread
Ingredients
For the Streusel
- ¼ cup packed light brown sugar
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
For the Cinnamon Swirl:
- ¼ cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
For the Bread
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- ½ cup apple butter
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 large Granny Smith apple unpeeled and shredded or finely chopped
For the Glaze
- 1 cup apple cider
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Grease and flour a 9 x 5 loaf pan. Set aside. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Make the streusel. Mix together the dry ingredients for the streusel together.
- Add in the butter and cut in using a fork or pastry cutter until it forms crumbs that stick together when pressed. Set aside in the refrigerator until needed.
- Make the cinnamon swirl. Stir together the ingredients for the swirl into a small bowl and set aside.
- Start the batter. Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices together in a bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk together the oil, apple butter, sugar, and eggs together in a separate bowl.
- Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture. Stir just until there are no streaks of flour.
- Fold in the apples.
- Pour about ⅔ of the batter into your prepared loaf pan Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture over the batter, then top with the remaining batter.
- Sprinkle the streusel topping over the batter, then place the pan in the oven.
- Bake for about 45 - 55 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Make the glaze. Reduce the cider for the glaze until it is about 3 - 4 tablespoons while your bread bakes. Allow to cool.
- Stir the reduced cider and the remaining glaze ingredients together. Pour over the cooled bread.
Notes
- The glaze is optional It is a nice addition when you want to amp up the apple flavor more.
- Add chopped walnuts and finely dice your apples if you want more texture
- Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
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