Cinnamon-Spiced Apple Bread

A few weeks ago someone from my division at work brought in a tremendously large bag of apples.  I have literally never seen that many apples in any place that wasn't a store or an orchard.  Apparently the person who brought them in also has a seasonal, part-time job at an orchard, and so getting ginormous bags of apples is a perk.  (Yum...that's an awesome job perk!)

People wandered by and marveled at the huge bag, usually taking a few with them when they left.  When I walked by I took 2 for eating, myself.  But by the end of the day there was still a ton of apples left.  I decided that I would take a bunch and bring back something baked and apple-filled to share.

While searching for a new recipe to try, I realized something: Unless you are talking about a pie (which I didn't want to make), most recipes with apples in them don't really use all that many apples.  Since I had what I will call "a whole lot" of apples at this point, I needed something brimming with appley-goodness.

I found this recipe, made a few changes, and it turned out amazing!  Moist, delicious, and the spices really ring through.  This bread pretty much tastes like a good fall bread should.

Also, the first time I made it, it was pretty wildly popular with everyone who had some.  The second time I made it was for the Recipe Challenge: Apple adventure at work, and I won the golden spatula trophy!  It now lives on my shelf for all to admire...until the next challenge (which may or may not be pumpkin).

Here's the how-to:

Ingredients:

• 2 2/3 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 semi-mounded tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp Penzey's baking spice (optional)
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4+ cups chopped apples, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 1/4 cup raisins
• Cinnamon Sugar that is a bit heavy on the cinnamon (about 6 to 8 parts sugar to 1 part cinnamon), for sprinkling on top of the bread.  
• Ingredient Notes: The original recipe called for 4 cups apples, 1 cup raisins, and 1 cup pecans.  I didn't have pecans, plus the fact that both raisins and nuts are divisive things in baked goods.  So, I decided to make it easy on myself and just use more apples and raisins and no nuts.  Undoubtedly this made the bread heavier and more moist, but it turned out so well that I think I'll just stick with my version.  I used my 2 cup pyrex measuring cup for the apples and filled the entire thing past the line to the top of the cup twice.  So I probably used more like 4 1/2 to 5 cups apples.  Also, I just threw some extra raisins in.  Also, the original called for only 2 tsp sugar mixed with 1/4 tsp cinnamon to sprinkle on top of both loaves.  Definitely use more!    

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. Grease 2 9x5 loaf pans.
3. Line bottoms only of greased loaf pans with waxed paper and then grease the waxed paper
4. In one bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, and spices. 
5. In a *large* mixing bowl, whisk together sugar and oil.  
6. Whisk in eggs and vanilla until smooth, then stir in apples and raisins.  
7. Add the dry ingredients and mix until well blended. 
8. Pour batter into pans, smoothing the top with a spatula or spoon. 
9. Bake for 20 minutes. 
10. Pull out rack and sprinkle loaves with the cinnamon sugar mixture. 
11. Continue baking for 30 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean.
12. Cool in pan for at least 10 minutes.

• Note: this bread is delicious warm, but *will not slice nicely when warm,* especially if you add more fruit like I did and the chunks are truly coarsely chopped.