Apple & Walnut Spice Bread!

I'm going to teach you how to make the best apple & walnut spice bread in the entire world......neh! The entire universe!

My favorite thing to do when I'm not building is baking and my specialty is bread. This apple & walnut spice bread is incredibly dense and super moist with an awesome lingering spicy sweet taste. When I say dense, I'm talking heavy...like a brick! Sounds delicious, right?! You could easily defend yourself with only a loaf of this magical treat. Let's leave that for a different Intructable.

Before we start, if you're a beginner, it's best to measure out and separate every ingredient into little dishes. Do this and then clean up the area before you start combining and mixing everything.

This recipe is for one 11.5X4 loaf and 6 muffins. I bought my bakeware at IKEA Japan.

You'll need TWO big bowls! One is for the dry stuff and the other is for the wet stuff. Here we go! (Mario voice)

Ingredients!

These will go in the first bowl.

-3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

-3 cups white sugar

-2 tsp baking soda

-2 tsp cinnamon

-1 1/2 tsp salt

-1 tsp nutmeg

-1/2 tsp clove

-1/4 tsp ginger

-1 cup walnuts (for the batter)

- (optional) butter to coat the bakeware

These will go in the second bowl.

-2 large apples (500 grams)

-4 eggs

-1 cup vegetable oil

-2/3 water

Stuff you'll need!

- Loaf pan and/or cupcake pan

- 2 large bowls

- (optional) 7 small dishes for the ingredients

- Spatula

- Whisk

- Scale

- (optional) food processor/blender for muffin topping

- (optional) bamboo skewer

Dang, that's a lot of oil dude!

This amount of vegetable oil is the equivalent to the butter and I use it instead of butter, because it is great in quick breads and makes a much denser and moist loaf.

Add all of the dry stuff to the first bowl and whisk it until perfectly blended.

Peel and dice up the apples and place it all in the second bowl. You'll need 500 grams and will probably have extra. 500 grams is the largest amount I have successfully baked.

This is a spicy sweet bread so it's best to use sweet apples. I live in Japan and used local apples that are equivalent to Fiji apples. When buying apples, pick shiny firm ones. Some apples are better to bake than others and I don't recommend Red Delicious Apples, because they're too soft.

Sweet apples to keep in mind!

- Fiji apples

- Jonagold apples

- Empire apple

- Kiku apples

- Gala apples

- Sonya apples

- Sweetie apples

Making the batter!

1. Whisk the dry stuff

2. Add the four eggs to the apples and mix

3. Add the egg and apple mixture to the dry mixture and mix

4. Add 2/3 cups water and mix

If you're a crazy person and don't like walnuts, the batter is ready.

If you're not crazy, because you love walnuts, put the cup of walnuts in a bag and bash it (remember you're not crazy) into smaller pieces. There's probably a better way to do this but, Hulk Smash!

Add the walnuts to the batter with the hand you haven't hurt on the table.

Greasing your pan is crucial!

The best choices for greasing is shortening and vegetable oil, but I use butter,

Butter is not the best choice, but it imparts extra flavor to the crust of the bread.

Bake the bread on 180 C - 350 F for 70 minutes.

Ovens are different around the world so check the bread with a toothpick around 50-60 minutes.

Push the toothpick into the middle of the loaf. The bread is finished if the toothpick comes out dry.

I like topping these muffins off with an oatmeal mix.

For the mix, just make powder out of 5-8 walnuts, 1/2 cup instant oats and 2 tsp cinnamon.

This is enough powder to evenly sprinkle over 6 muffins. You can use a bamboo skewer to gently push in the oatmeal powder, but don't mix it in with the batter. It'll form a crunchy crust over the muffin and taste awesome.

Bake the muffins at 180 C - 350 F for 25 minutes.

Again, ovens are different around the world so check a muffin with a toothpick around 15-20 minutes.

I hope you like them!