Caramel Apple Bread

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 Tbsp lemon or lime juice

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups coarsely chopped apples (I didn’t peel mine, but feel free to peel yours if preferred. I also used Golden Delicious, but Granny Smith would work!)

Caramel sundae sauce

For Crumb Mixture:

1 tsp cinnamon

4 Tbsp flour

4 Tbsp brown sugar

4 Tbsp cold butter

HOw to make it:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. If using paper bakeware, place two loaf baking pans on a foil-lined baking sheet. If using glass pans, spray liberally with cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until creamy. In a separate bowl, dissolve the baking soda into the lemon juice. Mixture will foam up; that’s normal. Once dissolved, add the baking soda mixture, eggs and vanilla to the butter and beat to combine.

3. Add the flour and salt until a thick batter has formed. Stir in the chopped apples by hand.

4. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the crumb ingredients until mixture forms coarse crumbs. Set aside.

5. If making two loaves with paper bakeware: Spread 1/4 batter in the bottom of each loaf pan. Sprinkle heavily with the crumb mixture and drizzle a generous amount of caramel on top. Repeat with another layer of each batter, crumb and caramel. If using a regular-sized loaf pan: Repeat same process, just in one pan.

6. Bake the paper bakeware loaf pans for 30 minutes, or a regular-sized loaf pan for about 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out mostly clean. Bread can be cooled and served directly from the paper bakeware, but if using glassware, remove the bread from the pan after cooling slightly; allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

7. Bread can be stored up to 2 days at room temperature, wrapped tightly.

The great thing about this paper bakeware is that cleanup was SO easy. When we were done serving from the loaf pan, we just recycled it and we were done. No scrubbing dishes, no mess. And we gifted the other loaf to a friend by just simply wrapping the bread in cellophane and tying it up with a ribbon. Think of how easy holiday baking will be with this paper bakeware!

Good luck, and enjoy!!