Full disclosure: I dislike apples. I have hated them since I was a little child who was forced to take one along to school. I also have really strong opinions about apples- I believe a) apples should only be consumed when absolutely crunchy, b) soft apples are baby food, c) green apples are superior. So it was not until I decided to mix some apples with sugar and other good things that I arrived at ONE way in which I can certainly consume a lot of apples. The great thing about this recipe is that it reminds me of an apple pie, but it's not even close to the amount of effort baking a real apple pie requires. It tastes warm and cinnamon-y and even though it isn't winter yet, I'm certain this recipe will be perfect for a chilly winter afternoon. That's pretty much all I have to say about this. If you do bake it, it'll speak for itself! I hope you guys try it out and if you do, let me know how it worked out.
RECIPE:
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour works too
1/4 cup sugar, brown works best, white works too (Sub: 4-5 pitted dates)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon, depending on taste/preference
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed apples, plus more chopped apples for additional garnish
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons neutral oil (I use vegetable, canola, or olive)
2 tablespoons plant-based milk (I often use unsweetened soy milk, but when I don't have vanilla extract on hand, I use vanilla flavored soy milk. Any milk, plant-based/not plant-based works)
5-6 whole walnuts, put in crushed
Method
Take two separate bowls. In one bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Peel the skin of your apple. Use a blender to make a puree of 1 apple. The aim is to achieve a cup of apple puree, so add more apples if needed to reach that amount.
Once mashed, add all the other wet ingredients to the bananas and mix.
Add the dry ingredients in 4/5 batches to the wet ingredients. Do not pour it in all at once, the batter won't mix together. If the batter feels tough to mix towards the end, add 1 tablespoon of milk to make it more workable. At this point, roughly crush in some walnuts into the batter.
Make sure to taste the batter before baking: it needs to taste like bananas and sweetness!
Once combined, grease a cake tin or your preferred baking equipment with butter (if not vegan) or a little bit of the same oil you used before. After greasing, add some dry flour to the cake tin. Post this, transfer the batter to the tin. You could also the first line the tin with a parchment paper and then grease it and cover it with dry flour. Optional: chop up some small apple pieces, mix them with some brown sugar, and sprinkle them on top)
Bake at 175 degrees for about 30-35 minutes first. Check the bread by poking a toothpick (at around the 25-minute point) and if not completely clean, bake for another 10/15 minutes. This is overall a quick-bake.
Okay, now I'm going to go grab myself another slice of this cake/bread/whatever you want to call it!
If you try this out, please do remember to comment your reviews below! :D