Name: Applesauce bread with streusel
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Cuisine: German
Ingredients: 1/2 recipe of streusel topping; Cooking spray, for the loaf pans; 2 apples, preferably a tart variety like Jonathan or McIntosh; 2 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (303 g); 2/3 cup almond flour (63 g); 3/4 cup light brown sugar (160 g); 3/4 cup granulated sugar (150 g); 3 teaspoons apple pie spice or 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 2 and 1/4 teaspoons baking powder; 3/4 teaspoon baking soda; 3/4 teaspoon salt; 1 and 1/2 cups applesauce (homemade applesauce or store-bought unsweetened) (383 g); 1 and 1/2 sticks butter (170 g), melted; 6 Tablespoons vanilla yogurt; 3 large eggs; 1 Tablespoon spiced rum (optional)

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I’ve been working on this applesauce bread with crumb topping for weeks now, and I’m finally happy with it. It’s loaded with apples, topped with crunchy streusel and has just a bit of rum that ties all the flavors together. This might be the best quick bread that I’ve ever made.

First, streusel. You all know how obsessed I am with crumb topping. It’s buttery and crunchy and just sweet enough, but on this bread it adds perfect contrast to the super moist apple filled bread. Wow, it’s good. Then the apples are cut in thin slivers like I do for apple fritters. They add moisture and a little bit of tartness that balances the sweet. The little bit of almond flour adds some nuttiness to the apples that then boosts the flavor of the rum that ties everything else up in a perfect little bow.

Basically, this bread is a symphony of flavors and textures, and you should get a couple apples now because it’s so worth making like yesterday.

Applesauce bread with crumb topping

apple with pieces of applesauce bread on plate

How this bread will win your heart

sliced applesauce bread with crumb topping on plate with whole apple and text overlay

Making people happy: My daughter gave it a million out of 10, and my dog happily followed me around the kitchen trying in vain to use the Force to make pieces of streusel hopefully fall to the ground where she could hoover them up. When her Yoda skills fail her, there’s usually a ~~sucker~~ nice friend close by who will fall for her Jack Rat terrier cuteness.
Perfect for tea or coffee: I love this bread with Earl Grey, but it’s equally good with coffee.
Versatile: You could easily bake this bread into apple muffins or in a 9×13 pan for an easy applesauce cake. While it’s not as packed with apples as my favorite apple cake, I wouldn’t say no to a slice!
No equipment: You don’t need anything fancy to make this bread. Just a bowl and a love for apples. If you can stir, you can make this bread.

Applesauce bread ingredients

Streusel–about 1/2 batch straight from the freezer
Apples, preferably a tart variety like Jonathan or McIntosh
All-purpose flour
Almond flour
Light brown sugar
Granulated sugar
Apple pie spice or a mix of ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg

Baking powder
Baking soda
Salt
Applesauce (homemade applesauce or store-bought unsweetened)
Butter, melted
Vanilla yogurt
Large eggs
Spiced rum (optional, but boosts all the flavors)

How to make the best applesauce bread

Cut em thin, you win: Raw apples take a long time to bake on their own. As such, cut yours thinly–like 1/16″ and about 1/2″ square in length and width.
Cold streusel: I’ve learned through pain that the best streusel is cold. On a bread like this, which requires a long bake, frozen streusel is ideal. If it’s not cold, it could melt too quickly and the weight of it could sink down into the cake before the cake can support the weight of the topping, leaving you with a cake with no topping. Warm streusel can also brown too quickly, leaving you with a burnt top before the bread is done (sad). Be a smart baker and always have a bag of streusel in the freezer.

Applesauce bread with streusel

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Author: Elizabeth Farr
Total Time: 65 minutes
Yield: 2 loaves 1x

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Description

Loaded with apples and cozy flavors of apple pie spice and the crunch of streusel, this super moist quick bread is what banana bread wishes it could be. The almond flour and the rum tie in all the flavors, and the streusel up top adds a satisfying buttery crunch that’s the perfect contrast to the soft bread.

Ingredients

Scale

1/2 recipe of streusel topping
Cooking spray, for the loaf pans
2 apples, preferably a tart variety like Jonathan or McIntosh
2 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (303 g)
2/3 cup almond flour (63 g)
3/4 cup light brown sugar (160 g)
3/4 cup granulated sugar (150 g)
3 teaspoons apple pie spice or 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 and 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cups applesauce (homemade applesauce or store-bought unsweetened) (383 g)
1 and 1/2 sticks butter (170 g), melted
6 Tablespoons vanilla yogurt
3 large eggs
1 Tablespoon spiced rum (optional)

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Instructions

If you haven’t already, make up a batch of streusel and stash it in the freezer while you prep the bread.

finished streusel in a bowl The crumbs need to be cold so that the streusel doesn’t burn during the long baking.

Preheat the oven to 350F (180 C).

Lightly spritz two 9”x5” loaf pans with cooking spray. Line the bottom and long sides of both the pans with a piece of parchment to make a sling that goes up the sides.

Peel the apples, and then cut them into thin small pieces. apples cut into thin pieces The best way to do this is to cut just to the right of the core on all 4 sides of the apple to get large wedges. Cut each side of the apple into planks about 1/2″ wide. Rotate the planks and cut into 1/16″ thin pieces. They will look more or less like big confetti pieces.

Whisk the flour, almond flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and apple pie spice in a large mixing bowl. dry ingredients for applesauce bread in bowl

In another bowl, mix the melted butter, applesauce, yogurt, eggs, and the rum. butter, eggs and yogurt in pan

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the egg/yogurt mixture, then stir everything together until the flour is just moistened. Be sure to scrape down to the bottom of the bowl as there’s usually flour hanging out that you missed! Fold in the apple slivers with a few turns of your spatula.

Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pans, smoothing it out. Top each of the breads with about a cup of streusel. streusel on top of applesauce bread before baking

Bake the breads for 45-50 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean or the middle of a muffin springs back when you touch it. sliced applesauce bread with crumb topping on plate with whole apple

Let the muffins cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then pull them out of the pans, pulling on the sides of parchment. Place the breads on a wire rack to finish cooling.

Store the bread at room temperature, loosely covered with foil for about 3 days. You can also freeze the finished bread in a plastic bag for up to 2 months.