Apple Cinnamon Bread

I miss strawberries.  And blueberries and blackberries and raspberries.

Winter where I live is terrible in terms of fresh fruit.  There are apples, oranges, and pears and that's about it.  Don't get me wrong, I love the fruit we have, but I epecially love berries.

The frozen kind doesn't count.

Lately, I've started to see the berries I miss so much appear in the grocery store again.  Except now it's almost worse.  Because they cost way too much.  I absolutely hate buying things for too much money.

So now, I'm stuck in one of those "so close yet so far" situations.  Yeah, it stinks.

But let's start talking about the good.

I finally decided that I should just try to make the best of the fruit I've got.  You know, instead of drooling over the $10 packages of strawberries.  So I used a couple of the apples sitting on my counter to make Apple Cinnamon Bread.

You wanna know how awesome it was?  So awesome it made me forget about blueberries.  And in case you're not aware of my love for blueberries, that's pretty darn awesome.

Apple Cinnamon Bread

• 1 cup spelt flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup oats, ground into a fine flour (oat flour)
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• pinch cloves
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• the leaves of 1 bag apple cinnamon tea (caffeine free)
• 1/3 cup egg whites (2)
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp applesauce
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2/3 cup apple cider
• 1 medium/large apple, cut into small chunks

Preheat oven to 350F.  In a large bowl, combine first 10 ingredients.  Whisk together.  Add in egg whites, applesauce, vanilla, molasses, and apple cider, and mix until a smooth batter forms (it will be runny).  Fold in apple chunks.  Pour batter into a greased loaf pan and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool completely before slicing or removing from pan.

Ok, so I just want to clarify one thing before you run off into your kitchen to make this (because that's obviously what you're dying to do).

It says tea in the ingredients.  That does not mean the liquid that tea has been steeped in.  No, no, no.  It literally means the tea leaves.  Like in my Mixed Berry Oatmeal and Apple Cinnamon Muffin this helps to add a ton of flavor in a very easy way.  If you don't happen to have apple cinnamon tea, then you have to go buy some this instant because it's the best thing ever I suppose you could make the bread without, but I'd definitely add some spices and taste the batter to make sure it's got enough flavor for your liking.

Alright, now you can sprint to your kitchen.

Revisited Recipe of the Day:

Honey Flax Bread