Cold weather sometimes calls for hearty food with bold flavors and this apple bread with rum soaked cranberries fits the bill!
This sweet bread features oh-so-plump cranberries, thanks to hours of soaking in dark rum. The cranberries are a wonderful addition to my classic apple bread recipe.
Ingredients
You need the following ingredients to make apple bread with rum soaked cranberries.
- 2/3 cup dried cranberries
- 2 tablespoons dark rum
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- Small pinch of nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup applesauce
- 2 tablespoons sour cream or creme fraîche
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 large apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces (about 1/4 inch)
- 1 cup walnuts
For the cinnamon sugar topping:
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Directions
The night before making the bread, put the cranberries in a shallow bowl and add the rum. Stir the cranberries and the rum together. Cover the bowl. If you can, stir the cranberries from time to time. The cranberries will soak up most of the rum over time.
Make the cinnamon sugar topping by mixing the two ingredients together.
Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
Before assembling the bread ingredients, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Sift the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and salt together into a bowl and set it aside.
Add the sugar and eggs to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whip attachment and beat them on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). If you use an electric hand mixer, it will take about 8 minutes.
Turn the mixer down to the lowest speed and slowly drizzle the oil into the sugar and egg mixture, blending it until it is just incorporated. Do not put the oil in all at once. You want to keep the mixture airy and light.
Add the sour cream, vanilla and applesauce to the sugar, eggs and oil and blend together on a low speed.
Fold in the dry ingredients. When blended, fold in the apples, cranberries, and walnuts.
Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar topping evenly over the loaf.
Bake for approximately 1 hour. The bread is done when a toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean.
Cool the bread in the pan for about 30 minutes. Transfer it from the pan to a cooling rack and cool a little longer.
Tightly wrap the bread to store it. You can keep it at room temperature for several days or you can freeze it.
Related Topics
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