Ingredients: (* indicates a Neighborhood Harvest product)

For the bread:

• 1 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour (for GF, use your favorite flour blend. See the notes below.)

• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

• 1/2 tsp salt (or fine Kosher salt)

• 1/2 C Butter, room temperature (for DF, use plant butter. Our favorites are in the notes below!)

• 1 C Light Brown Sugar

• 1/4 C Granulated Sugar

• 1/2 Tbsp Cinnamon

• 2 eggs (or Vegan egg alternative - see notes)

• 1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

• 1/2 C Milk (or milk alternative - Yes, we have notes on this too!)

• 1 large or 2 small Pink Lady Apples*, chopped

For Cinnamon-Sugar Topping

• 2 Tbsp Granulated Sugar

• 1 tsp cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spray a 9x5” loaf pan with baking spray. Line bottom and up the ends with a strip of parchment paper (for GF/DF/V, use a second strip to take parchment up the sides as well) and spray again. Set aside.

3. Whisk together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl.

4. Combine butter, both sugars and cinnamon in bowl of a stand mixer and beat for 2 minutes on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add in both eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth, scraping sides again.

5. Turn mixer to low and add in flour mixture and milk in alternating additions, starting and ending with flour. Mix until just combined.

6. Finally, add in apples and fold in until just combined. Pour batter into prepared pan.

7. Mix together the cinnamon sugar topping and sprinkle evenly over top of batter.

8. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until bread is set and long toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. (GF/DF/V options usually take longer to bake - sometimes 20-30 minutes extra - so keep testing until baked through)

9. Allow to cool in pan for 10 minutes and then carefully transfer from pan, using parchment paper as handles, to a wire rack to cool completely.

10. Peel parchment paper and serve at room temperature or warm, as desired. Serve alongside our locally roasted ground coffee*, flavored local Kcups*, or seasonal beverages like fresh-pressed apple cider*, eggnog* or custard*.

Notes:

• Chop your apples into uniform, small chunks to ensure consistent baking. Granny Smith apples also work well.

• GF Flour: We love the all-purpose blends from Simple Truth Organic and Bob’s Red Mill. You can make your own blend using a combination of flours like Oat, Almond, and Coconut. Make sure that whatever blend you choose contains Xantham Gum for best baking results.

• Plant Butter: We love Country Crock’s Plant Butter Sticks with Avocado Oil and Miyokos’s Cultured Vegan Butter.

• Vegan Eggs: Flax or Chia eggs work well (1 T ground seeds mixed with 2-3 T water until set). Just add an extra pinch of baking soda to your flour mixture to simulate the leavening power of an egg. 3 T Aquafaba (chickpea cooking liquid from canned beans) per egg or Just Egg’s vegan egg replacer are also good options.

• Plant-based Milk: Unsweetened plain Almond Milk is a good neutral replacement, and we also like Oat Milk, particularly the Extra Creamy varieties, in our recipes.

• GF/DF/V baked goods are generally a little more tender/crumbly, so take special care when transferring to your serving plate. Be sure to use a thin, sharp knife when slicing for best results (and pretty presentation!).