Bursting with sweet bananas and chopped pecans or walnuts, these banana nut muffins feature a crunchy sugar topping for a breakfast or afternoon snack you’ll adore. Fall is always a chaotic time. Even once we get settled into a back-to-school routine, there are extracurriculars and school pictures and parent-teacher conferences and holidays. And that’s on …
Bursting with sweet bananas and chopped pecans or walnuts, these banana nut muffins feature a crunchy sugar topping for a breakfast or afternoon snack you’ll adore.
Fall is always a chaotic time. Even once we get settled into a back-to-school routine, there are extracurriculars and school pictures and parent-teacher conferences and holidays.
And that’s on top of trying to simply enjoy the fall season.
So obviously I look for ways to make breakfasts and afternoon snacks quick and easy. Sometimes that means making a batch of muffins for snacking on throughout the week.
Right now my girl is loving these banana nut muffins. The crunchy sugar topping is everything on these!
This apple bread recipe is cozy and sweet, with a tender crumb and brown sugar cinnamon swirl. A great baking project for apple season!
Here’s a cozy, fun quick bread to make any time of the year: try this Apple Bread recipe! It’s got a moist, tender crumb, and is bursting with tangy fruit, warm spices, and a brown sugar cinnamon swirl. It’s a total crowd pleaser! Everyone loves this spiced bread, and it makes the kitchen smell incredible. We couldn’t stop sneaking bites!
Ingredients in this apple bread recipe
This apple bread was inspired by a trip to the apple orchard for picking, but since apples are readily available you can make it any time of the year! The cinnamon and nutmeg are ideal for fall and winter baking, but it’s seasonal any time of the year. The magic ingredient is buttermilk, which makes an incredible fluffy tender crumb. Here are the ingredients you’ll need:
Brown sugar
Cinnamon and nutmeg
Apples
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Baking soda
Kosher salt
Granulated sugar
Buttermilk
Butter
Neutral oil
Eggs
Vanilla extract
Best types of apples for bread
What variety of apple is best for baking into a bread recipe? First off, avoid those bright red delicious apples at the store. The ideal variety for sauteed apples is a firm, crisp tart apple. Crisp tart apples cook well and the tangy tartness accents the sweetness of baked goods. Here are some of the best apples for baking and cooking:
Pink Lady
Jonathon or Jonagold
Granny Smith
Fuji
Of course, apple bread will taste great with most types of apples! But if you use a sweeter variety, you won’t get the delightful pop of sweet tart that a crisp tart apple brings.
Secrets to a light and fluffy apple bread
Quick breads can be notoriously dense, dry, or filled with air pockets. But this apple bread recipe has the perfect velvety, soft crumb. Here are a few keys to the texture in this recipe:
Use real buttermilk (no substitutes!). Buttermilk is crucial to making a fluffy quick bread with a tender crumb. Don’t be tempted to use even a buttermilk substitute here! It’s got to be the real thing.
Use both butter and oil. Butter and oil work uniquely in baked goods. Often we use oil in our quick breads and muffins, but we love the richness in flavor and texture that butter adds.
Tips for baking this apple bread recipe
Apple bread is simple to whip up, but there are a few tricks to getting the best end result. Here’s what to know:
Use an aluminum pan (9 x 5 inch). The key to an even bake is in the pan. The best results for a quick bread are with an aluminum pan.
For the swirl, insert a butter knife straight down into the dough. Then make a few S shapes across the length of the pan. This swirls the brown sugar cinnamon mixture into the bread, and makes an interesting texture to the top of the bread.
Storage info
How to store it? This apple bread recipe tastes best the day it’s baked, but it holds up well over time!
Refrigerator: This bread stores well in the refrigerator for up to 1 week! Let the slices stand at room temperature for a few minutes before eating: it’s not quite as tasty cold.
Freeze: Freeze in a sealable container and store up to 3 months.
More apple recipes
This apple bread recipe is one of our top ways to bake with this tasty fruit! Here are a few more apple recipes to try:
⅓ cupneutral oil (grapeseed, canola, or vegetable oil)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Mix the brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon in a small bowl and reserve it.
Peel and chop the apples into 1/4-inch pieces. Butter a 9 x 5-inch aluminum loaf pan.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon. Make a well in the center.
In a medium bowl, whisk the granulated sugar, buttermilk, melted butter, neutral oil, eggs, and vanilla extract.
Pour the wet ingredients from the batter into the well in the dry ingredients. Mix gently until just combined and there are no longer streaks of flour.
Add the apples and fold them in with a spatula, taking care not to overwork the batter.
Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with ½ of the brown sugar mixture. Add the remaining batter on top and sprinkle the remaining brown sugar mixture on top. Insert a butter knife into the batter and draw a few S shapes through the pan to swirl.
Place the pan in the oven. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few crumbs, rotating the pan halfway through baking, about 55 to 65 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for 30 minutes.
Run a knife around the edge and invert the loaf onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool fully to room temperature (about 1 hour) before slicing into pieces. This bread is best the day it’s made, but you can store refrigerated for up to 1 week: make sure to bring to room temperature before enjoying. Alternatively, store frozen for up to 3 months.
Notes
*Buttermilk is the magic ingredient which makes the most consistent texture and rise! Don’t be tempted to leave it out or use a buttermilk substitute. It’s worth it (we promise).
Asiago beer bread is the perfect fall snack! It’s hearty and satisfying, perfect for tearing a chunk off and serving with soup. Cheesy with a crisp golden exterior, it’s delicious! The soup dipper of the season is here! This asiago cheese beer bread is super easy to throw together and ideal for soup season. It […]
Asiago beer bread is the perfect fall snack! It’s hearty and satisfying, perfect for tearing a chunk off and serving with soup. Cheesy with a crisp golden exterior, it’s delicious!
The soup dipper of the season is here!
This asiago cheese beer bread is super easy to throw together and ideal for soup season. It pairs perfectly with any soup and is thick and fluffy, the perfect consistency for dipping.
I love beer bread!! My mom used to get beer bread mixes from a fundraiser at school and I would LOVE when she’d make it. It’s such a delicious quick bread, simple enough to make on the fly without any crazy ingredients (aside from beer!) and a cozy side dish to serve with fall dinners.
Or have as a quick afternoon snack.
Plus, anything is delicious when cheese is involved.
The beer helps the bread rise and also adds a great flavor. You can use any beer you enjoy, but I find that a lighter beer like a lager or pilsner works.
I’m pretty sure that the thing I love most about beer bread is the golden crunchy exterior. The outside crust is so crisp and wonderful from all that butter – it can’t be beat. I mean, look at that butter.
!!!!!!!!!!!!
The inside is dense in a good way, perfect for soup dipping or slathering with butter and easy to pull apart. It’s also hearty and satisfying.
There are so many soups that I love to serve with this bread.
With the nuttiness of brown butter and a sweet streusel topping, this brown butter banana bread makes for a decadent breakfast or afternoon snack. There is never a wrong time for banana bread. Whether it’s a classic banana bread, zucchini banana bread, banana nut bread, or even a big stack of banana pancakes, I love …
Flavored with rich apple cider and filled with diced apples and warm spices, these apple cider donut muffins are a special fall treat. Top them with the apple cider glaze for the perfect sweet finish. One of the best parts of fall is taking a trip to the apple orchard. I’m all about grabbing a …
Flavored with rich apple cider and filled with diced apples and warm spices, these apple cider donut muffins are a special fall treat. Top them with the apple cider glaze for the perfect sweet finish.
One of the best parts of fall is taking a trip to the apple orchard.
I’m all about grabbing a few bags of crisp apples, a dozen freshly made apple cider donuts, and a jug of pressed apple cider.
And as much as I love making a big batch of spiced apple cider to enjoy while watching a movie, I also love taking some of that cider and recreating those orchard-fresh donuts with these apple cider donut muffins.
WHAT ARE DONUT MUFFINS?
Have you ever had a donut muffin before? I know we usually think of those as two separate breakfast treats, but magic happens when we combine them into one.
Imagine all of the deliciousness of a classic cake donut made just as easy as your favorite muffins.
Yes, you can use a donut pan to make baked donuts, but the one downside there is that you have to have a donut pan.
But when you make donut muffins, you can make them in your standard muffin pan – no special equipment needed!
I love my glazed donut muffins, but this time I decided to channel the flavors of the apple orchard and apple cider donuts and make these apple cider donut muffins.
HOW TO MAKE APPLE CIDER DONUT MUFFINS
These apple cider donut muffins have apple cider in the batter and glaze. When combined with diced apples in the donuts and plenty of warm spices, they are bursting with fall flavor in every bite.
I always love using my homemade apple pie spice. The combination of spices works perfectly in recipes like these apple cider donut muffins, apple hand pies, apple fritter bread, and so much more.
If you don’t have apple pie spice on hand, feel free to use ground cinnamon instead.
If you want to make these during a time of year when apple cider isn’t available, you can substitute unfiltered apple juice for a very similar flavor.
For the glaze, you will need:
3 tablespoons butter; melted
1 cup confectioners’ sugar; sifted
¼ teaspoon homemade apple pie spice
3 tablespoons apple cider, at room temperature
Again, if necessary, you can substitute ground cinnamon for the apple pie spice and unfiltered apple juice for the apple cider.
Making this recipe
This recipe makes 12 donut muffins, so begin by lining a standard 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.
To start the batter, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix to combine.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, apple pie spice, and salt.
In a measuring cup, combine the milk with the apple cider.
Add half of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, then add the milk and cider, then end with the rest of the flour mixture. Make sure you combine well after each addition.
Fold in the diced apples, the divide the batter into the prepared muffin cups. The cups will be nearly full.
Bake for 15-17 minutes. The donut muffins are done when the tops are domed and golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let the muffins cool for 15-20 minutes, then whisk together the glaze.
In a bowl, whisk together the glaze ingredients until smooth. Place a piece of parchment paper or a rimmed baking sheet under the cooling rack the muffins are on – this will help catch any glaze that drips off of the muffins.
Dip the muffin tops in the glaze, then set them back on the rack to allow the glaze to harden. If you have enough glaze left, you could even dip them twice for an extra-thick glaze.
HELPFUL RESOURCES
Before getting started, make sure you know how to measure flour correctly. You can also use this measuring method for the powdered sugar.
If you’re out of brown sugar, try whipping up a quick brown sugar substitute. You can also learn how to soften brown sugar if yours has hardened and save yourself a trip to the grocery store.
Grab a few of my tips for how to soften butter quickly if you forgot to set yours out to soften ahead of time.
STORAGE
Store the apple cider donut muffins in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. Because of the fresh apple in the muffins, they will get more moist as the days go on, so the glaze may start to soak into the tops of the muffins.
If you would like to make these donut muffins ahead of time and freeze them, I recommend freezing them before they are glazed. Place them in a zip-top freezer bag and freeze for up to a month. Thaw at room temperature before glazing.
Flavored with rich apple cider and filled with diced apples and warm spices, these apple cider donut muffins are a special fall treat. Top them with the apple cider glaze for the perfect sweet finish.
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Lightly grease a standard muffin tin, or line with 12 paper muffin cups.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, and sugars until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla, beating to combine.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, apple pie spice and salt. In a glass measuring cup, combine the milk and apple cider. Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture alternately with the milk/cider, beginning and ending with the flour and making sure everything is thoroughly combined. Fold in diced apples.
Spoon the batter evenly into the prepared pan, filling the cups nearly full.
Bake the muffins for 15 to 17 minutes, or until they’re a pale golden brown and a cake tester inserted into the middle of one of the center muffins comes out clean. Remove pan to a cooling rack and allow muffins to cool for about 15-20 minutes.
In a medium bowl, prepare the glaze by mixing together the melted butter, confectioners’ sugar, apple pie spice and apple cider. Whisk until smooth.
Place a layer of wax or parchment paper under the cooling rack. Dip the muffin crowns into the glaze, place the muffins back onto the cooling rack and allow the glaze to harden.
Notes
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
This grilled bread is a favorite of ours. Garlic butter grilled breadsticks are such a hit – like a toasty pizza dough doused in garlicky herb butter and lots of parmesan cheese. Always a winner! Oh hello! This is where I grill pizza dough, smother it with melted butter, tons of garlic and fresh herbs, […]
This grilled bread is a favorite of ours. Garlic butter grilled breadsticks are such a hit – like a toasty pizza dough doused in garlicky herb butter and lots of parmesan cheese. Always a winner!
Oh hello!
This is where I grill pizza dough, smother it with melted butter, tons of garlic and fresh herbs, then slice it into strips and call it breadsticks.
My kind of breadsticks.
I debated on calling them… pizza sticks? Grilled dough sticks? Grilled pizza bites? I had no idea what to call them for you. But we call them grilled breadsticks. Even if they are just grilled pizza dough. Sliced into strips. Doused in garlicky butter.
I just can’t get enough of the butter part. I mean you can straight up SEE the butter here, right?
So here’s how I do it!
I like to use my pizza dough recipe. Usually half of the recipe. But you can use any pizza dough that you like! One from Trader Joe’s, one from your favorite pizza joint – anything.
While the dough rises, I make the most delicious garlic butter. Butter, garlic, salt, fresh herbs like parsley and basil. Any herbs work! I melt this all together in a saucepan and let it sit and marry together.
The grill is preheated to the highest setting. I roll out the dough like I’m going to make a pizza – but that’s it! The dough itself goes right on the grill, just plain. I grill it until it’s puffy and cooked and charred in a few places.
The minute it comes off the grill, I brush the garlic butter over every.single.inch. Don’t miss a spot! Then give it a big sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
I let this sit for a few minutes and slightly cool. Then I slice it into strips.
From the archives It’s September! The 9th month of the year is the gateway to sweatshirts, chili, football, and all things pumpkin. But before there’s pumpkin and Halloween candy, there are apples. This month, Rachel is throwing an Apple a Day party – a group of fabulous bloggers sharing their favorite apple recipes. And my […]
From the archives
It’s September! The 9th month of the year is the gateway to sweatshirts, chili, football, and all things pumpkin. But before there’s pumpkin and Halloween candy, there are apples.
This month, Rachel is throwing an Apple a Day party – a group of fabulous bloggers sharing their favorite apple recipes. And my contribution? Breakfast. But not just any breakfast. It’s cinnamon roll meets apple pie meets Jack Daniels.
The cinnamon rolls are dressed up for fall with vanilla bean, brown sugar, apples, and whiskey and then topped with a cream cheese glaze scented with just a little bit more whiskey. It will take you longer to read the recipe title aloud than it will to inhale a cinnamon roll and lick your fingers clean. I speak from experience.
Happy September! And seriously. Make those cinnamon rolls this weekend.
Apple Cinnamon Rolls with Jack Daniels Cream Cheese Icing
Celebrate fall with cinnamon rolls filled with apples, brown sugar, and whiskey.
Ingredients
For the Dough:
4 large egg yolks
1 large whole egg
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla bean paste or extract (or the scrapings from 1 vanilla pod)
6 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup buttermilk
4 cups flour (20 oz), plus more for dusting surface
1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) instant yeast
1 tsp salt
Vegetable oil or cooking spray
For the Filling:
4 Tbsp butter
2 apples (I used Braeburn), peeled and diced into 1/4-inch cubes
1 cup packed dark brown sugar, divided
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp Jack Daniels (optional but highly recommended; can omit)
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch salt
For the Icing:
2.5 oz cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp milk
2-3 tsp Jack Daniels (optional; can replace with milk)
1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, beat the egg yolks, whole egg, sugar, butter, vanilla, buttermilk and half the flour together until well combined. Add yeast, salt, and the next 1 1/4 cup flour (leaving about 3/4 cup remaining) and knead on low for 5 minutes.
Add additional flour by the spoonful if necessary - you want the dough soft and moist but not overly sticky. Knead another 5 minutes until the dough clears the sides of the bowl (but might still stick to the bottom a bit).
Transfer dough to a lightly greased, large bowl and let double, 2-2.5 hours.
Just before the dough is finished, make the filling. Melt the butter in a large saute pan and add the diced apple. Crumble 1/2 cup of brown sugar over top and stir in the cinnamon, a pinch of salt, and Jack Daniels. Simmer for 10 minutes, until thick and bubbly. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, and set aside to cool.
Spray or butter a 9-inch pan. Turn out the dough onto your lightly floured work surface. Stretch and roll the dough into a ~12x18 rectangle with the long edge nearest to you.
Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar over the dough, leaving the top 1-inch bare. Spread the cooled apple mixture over the dough.
Starting with the edge of the dough closest to you, roll the dough into a cylinder and pinch the the seam to seal. Gently press, squeeze, and stretch the roll to get an even thickness.
Cut the roll into 1 1/2-inch slices and place in the baking dish (you'll get 12 rolls). Cover tightly with foil or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Place the rolls in the oven with the heat off. Fill a shallow pan 2/3 full of boiling water and place it on the rack below the rolls. Close the oven and let the rolls rise for ~30 minutes.
Remove the water pan and rolls from the oven and preheat the oven to 350.
Bake rolls on the middle rack for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.
While the rolls are cooling, beat the cream cheese, milk, Jack Daniels (to taste, 1-2 tsp at a time), and powdered sugar together until smooth. Drizzle over the rolls and serve.
Leftovers can be stored in the fridge, tightly covered. Rewarm in the microwave for best results.
I’m happy to announce a food and photography workshop with me at the Sunday Suppers studio in Brooklyn on September 30th and October 1st. You can sign up for one or both days. Here is a brief description. FOR TICKETS, … Continue reading …
I’m happy to announce a food and photography workshop with me at the Sunday Suppers studio in Brooklyn on September 30th and October 1st. You can sign up for one or both days. Here is a brief description. FOR TICKETS, … Continue reading →
I am craving warmth and sun after what it feels like the longest winter in recent history. Slowly we are getting there. The first signs of Spring have appeared. Blossoms, ramps, morels, peas and favas. Every Spring there is a … Continue reading &…
I am craving warmth and sun after what it feels like the longest winter in recent history. Slowly we are getting there. The first signs of Spring have appeared. Blossoms, ramps, morels, peas and favas. Every Spring there is a … Continue reading →
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